On Saturday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the Helena Civic Center, the Helena Symphony continues its 58th Season and the next performance of the Exergy Masterworks Concert Series with the debut of Violinist Richard Amoroso performing the jaw-dropping Violin Concerto by Shostakovich. Violinist Richard Amoroso was accepted into The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1998, and has recorded and traveled the world with this world-renowned orchestra, which is especially noted for the sound of its strings for over a century.
While Mr. Amoroso has performed with Music Director Allan R. Scott, this performance marks his debut with the Helena Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his tenure with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Amoroso maintains an active solo career, including solo appearances in Carnegie Hall. Born in 1970 to a notable musical family in Philadelphia, he began his relationship with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of 14 when he appeared as a young artist soloist. Mr. Amoroso currently plays on a violin made in 1765 by renowned violin-maker Nicolai Gagliano.
Mr. Amoroso’s performance of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto opens the concert. “To hear and witness a violinist perform this magnificent and immense work is awe-inspiring,” explains Maestro Scott. “Since its birth in 1955, this Concerto has become one of the most demanding and exciting works for solo violin.”
The performance continues with Respighi’s Ancient Airs & Dancesthat is “pure ear-candy,” proclaims Maestro Scott. “Respighi has a way of blurring the boundary between the perception of sight and sound, and the colors that Respighi can create are still unrivaled.”
The concert culminates with Debussy’s La Mer. Considered one of the most significant works of the 20th century, La Mer is French Impressionist Claude Debussy’s masterpiece. Like the great French Impressionist painters such as Monet and Renoir, Debussy captures sounds that are more focused on color and texture than specific ideas. “Collect impressions,” Debussy explained. “Don’t be in a hurry to write them down, because that’s something music can do better than painting: it can centralize variations of color and light within a single picture.”
La Mer (meaning “the sea”) is a masterpiece of suggestion and subtlety, depicting the sea and its motionlessness, unpredictability, and power. “Of all the works this season, La Mer is one of the true gems in all of music, and should be experienced at least once in one’s lifetime,” says Maestro Scott. “It remains one of the greatest tone poems in all of music today, picturing the peaceful, turbulent, uncontrolled, all-consuming, reflective, shimmering, dramatic, endless motion of the mysterious sea.”
“This concert gives the perfect meal for any concert goer,” says Interim Executive Director Pat Callbeck Harper. “From the power of a virtuosic Violin Concerto with a world-class soloist, to the exotic, bold, and lush sonorous colors of the orchestra – this performance is a must see.”
The performance is part of the Exergy Masterworks Concert Series and is sponsored, in part, through the generous support of Dana Hillyer & Robert Caldwell. For tickets or more information, contact the Helena Symphony at 406.442.1860 , on line at helenasymphony.org, by calling the Symphony Box Office (406.442.1860), or at the Symphony Box Office located at 48 Hibbard Way, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.