Monterey, United States, July 23,2019- Monterey Symphony has announced its 2019-20 Season 74, Ovation, with six concerts, youth concerts, special events, luncheons and supper clubs through May 2020.
The Symphony opens Ovation Oct. 19-20, 2019, with Antonín Dvořák’s Romance for violin and orchestra, featuring concertmaster Christina Mok. The season continues Nov. 16-17, with pianist Kun Woo Paik returning to the Symphony to perform two piano concerti. Concert No. 3 is Feb. 15-16, 2020, featuring two massive symphonic works, both weaving elegant stories for the listener. The fourth concert of the season is set for March 14-15, 2020, and features guest conductor Oleg Caetani making his debut with the Symphony. Concert No. 5, April 18-19, 2020, features Symphony favorite, violinist Judith Ingolfsson performing Brahms’ violin concerto. The sixth and final concert, May 16-17, will highlight works by Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler and be conducted by Symphony Music Director Max Bragado-Darman.
The roster of special events, luncheons and dinners kicks off Oct. 6, 2019 with the Symphony’s Paella Cook-Off pitting Maestro Bragado-Darman’s legendary paella in a friendly competition with a local celebrity chef and culminates May 17, 2020, with the Finale Celebration to give the Maestro a send-off worthy of his 15 years at the helm of the Symphony. Six preview luncheons will be hosted on the Thursdays prior to each concert and five supper clubs will be held on Sundays after the matinee concerts (October-April).
Eight Youth Concerts will be presented during the 2019-2020 season. Half the concerts will be held at Sherwood Hall in Salinas on Oct. 21 and May 18, and the other half at the Sunset Center in Carmel on March 16 and April 20. For more information, visit www.montereysymphony.org/youth-concerts.
Concert 1: October 19-20, 2019
The Monterey Symphony opens its 74th season Ovation with Antonín Dvořák’s Romance for violin and orchestra, featuring concertmaster Christina Mok. This delightful, single-movement work was commissioned to serve as an annual musical tradition for the Provisional Theatre Orchestra in Prague. Based on a theme from the second movement of his fifth string quartet, Romance is a lovely interplay between the violinist and the orchestra. Other iterations of the melody were presented in his later works — it was an obvious favorite of Dvořák’s!
Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique takes the mercurial, and often tragic, life of an artist and sets it to music. The title underlines not only the fantastic musical fireworks that take place on stage, but also a fantasy Berlioz was demonstrating. Written as an homage to unrequited love—the result of too many unanswered love letters — Berlioz uses the voices of the instruments to explain his emotions. The work travels through the artist’s life, culminating in his own funeral in the wildly intense final movement.
Violinist Christina Mok has captivated audiences with her solo performances, chamber recitals, and orchestral leadership. She has appeared as a soloist with the Russian Federal Symphony Orchestra, the Janacek Philharmonic, and the Seoul Symphony Orchestra, among others. The San Jose Mercury declared of one of her concerto performances, “She was a spellbinder as she dug in and let it fly — there was no need to long for Itzhak Perlman or Gil Shaham.”
As a chamber musician she has performed in Korea, Japan, England, Norway, Hong Kong, and the United States. Her recitals have been broadcast on the BBC and RTHK. She is the Concertmaster of the Stockton Symphony and the Monterey Symphony and the Associate Concertmaster of Symphony Silicon Valley.
Max Bragado-Darman, conductor
Antonín Dvořák / Romance, Op. 11
Christina Mok, violin
Hector Berlioz / Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14
Contact:
Marci Bracco Cain
Chatterbox PR
Salinas, CA 93901
(831) 747-7455
http://www.montereysymphony.org
