CONCERT
The program is an eclectic mix of works that, as the title of the program suggests, will include the telling of stories through music, the conjuring up of poetic images through sound and the call to dance through infectious rhythms.
The first two pieces were written by Paule Maurice and Cécile Chaminade, two ground-breaking and accomplished female composers from France who lived and worked during the first half of the 20th century. Each movement of the two works bears a title, and the descriptive music will evoke very vivid images for the listener.
More recent pieces by Italian-American composers Larry Alan Smith and Vincent Persichetti follow. Both composers have family roots in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Larry Alan Smith studied with Vincent Persichetti at The Juilliard School.
Although there will be other opportunities to “dance” because of music in the first four pieces, Pedro Iturralde’s Pequeña Czarda will bring the evening to a fitting conclusion. A czarda (czardas) is a national Hungarian dance in two sections with the first generally being slow and sad, and the second being fast and fiery. Spanish composer and saxophonist Pedro Iturralde has added his own special touch.
MORE INFO:
PROGRAM
Gaetano Di Bacco, saxophone
Marguerita Oundjian Smith, piano
Larry Alan Smith, piano
Music by Paule Maurice, Cécile Chaminade, Larry Alan Smith, Vincent Persichetti and Pedro Iturralde
DOORS OPEN AT 6:15 AND CLOSE AT 7:00PM PROMPTLY
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capacity or by the event’s date at 2:00 PM (whichever comes
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LOCATION
Embassy of Italy
3000 Whitehaven Street NW
Washington, DC 20008
PROGRAM:
Tableaux de Provence (1954) for saxophone and piano
1. Farandoulo di chatouno (Dance of the Young Maidens)
2. Cansoun per ma mio (Song for my Beloved)
3. La Boumiano (The Bohemian)
4. Dis Alyscamps l’amo souspire (The Soul of Arles Field Sighs)
5. Lou Cabridan (The Bumblebee)Paule Maurice(1910-67)
Pièces Romantiques, Op. 55 (1890) for piano four hands
1. Primavera (Spring)
2. La Chaise à Porteurs (The Sedan Chair)
4. Sérénade d’Automne (Serenade of Autumn)
6. RigaudonCécile Chaminade(1857-1944)
Poesie (2010/2012) for saxophone and piano
1. Semplicemente
2. Con forza
3. Con tenerezza
4. Con forza
5. Dolce
Larry Alan Smith(born 1955)
Parable XI for Solo Alto Saxophone, Op, 123 (1972)
Vincent Persichetti(1915-87)
Pequeña Czarda (1983) for saxophone and piano
Pedro Iturralde(born 1929)
Gaetano Di Bacco graduated with honors from the Conservatory of Music in L’Aquila and attended classes with J.M. Londeix. Since 1984, he has given more than 1,600 concerts. As a member of the Quartetto di Sassofoni Accademia, he has toured Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Far East, North America and South America. He has presented concerts with pianists and organists, with a variety of chamber music ensembles and as soloist with many symphony orchestras, including the Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana (a tour of Japan and China), Orchestra Filarmonica di Donetsk, Orquesta Sinfónica de Maracaibo, the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Internazionale di Lanciano, Orchestra Sinfonica Sulmonese (International Festival of Symphony Music El-Djem in Tunisia), Orchestra del Teatro Maruccino di Chieti, Zagreb String Orchestra and the Filarmonica George Enescu of Bucharest. Mr. Di Bacco is Professor of Saxophone at the Conservatory of Music in Pescara. He has given courses and master classes in France, Germany, the US, Spain, Belgium, Slovenia, Turkey, Moldova, Ukraine and Venezuela, and he regularly holds training courses in Italy. He has recorded nine compact discs for the Nuova Era, Dynamic, Edipan, Iktius and BMG-Ariola labels, and he has made numerous recordings for major television and radio broadcasts throughout the world. His arrangements and editions have been published by Lemoine and Billaudot, and he frequently serves on the juries of international saxophone competitions. Mr. Di Bacco plays a Selmer saxophone, and he uses Vandoren reeds and BG accessories.
For further information: www.gaetanodibacco.it.
Marguerita Oundjian Smith began her piano studies in London, continued in Paris, and later graduated from the Juilliard School with her bachelor and master of music degrees. Her teachers included Jacob Lateiner, Irwin Freundlich, Yvonne Lefébure, and Peter Wallfisch. Winner of the Debussy Competition in St. Germain-en-Laye and the Khatchaturian Competition in New York, she has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, the United States and Canada. A former faculty member of the Hartt School Community Division in West Hartford, Connecticut, and Suffield Academy in Suffield, Connecticut, she currently accompanies and teaches at the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Connecticut.
Larry Alan Smith is a composer, conductor, pianist and poet who serves as Artistic Director of the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival (VA), Professor of Composition at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford (CT), Artistic Director of Settimane Musicali in Abruzzo (Italy) and Music Director of Bowen McCauley Dance (DC). Dr. Smith earned three degrees in composition from The Juilliard School, and his studies in France were with Nadia Boulanger. He has been on the faculties of The Juilliard School and Boston Conservatory, and he has served as the Dean of the School of Music at the North Carolina School of the Arts, Dean of The Hartt School and President of the School of American Ballet in New York City. For more information, visit www.larryalansmith.com.