Cape Ann Symphony to Present Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Beethoven And Cellist Owen Young

The Cape Ann Symphony's 73rd Concert Season will continue with Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, and Beethoven featuring the return of CAS audience favorite and Boston Symphony Orchestra cellist Owen Young on Sunday, March 16  at 2 pm at Manchester-Essex High School auditorium on 36 Lincoln Street in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. 

The program for Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, and Beethoven includes Mendelssohn's  Hebrides Overture; Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 and Saint-Saëns' Cello Concerto, featuring Owen Young, Cello. The March 16th Concert marks the first time CAS has performed the Beethoven Symphony No. 4 during Maestro Udagawa's 25 year tenure as Music Director and Conductor of Cape Ann Symphony. Maestro Udagawa looks forward to bringing the exciting piece to CAS audiences, "We have never performed the Beethoven Symphony No. 4 in Cape Ann during my time as conductor of the orchestra. It's a real masterpiece, and it was definitely time to do it. It sits between the very famous 3rd and 5th symphonies, so it's definitely been overshadowed by those pieces, but I know that the audience will love this piece. It has everything that Beethoven is known for - power, energy, melodies of tremendous beauty - and in addition, it comes along with a huge dose of high spirits and humor. "

Written in 1830, Mendelssohn's  Hebrides Overture also known as Fingal's Cave was inspired by a trip the composer took to Scotland. His travels took him to the Hebrides Islands and the island of Staffa - known for its puffins and its atmospheric cave. With its echoing acoustics, which magnified the sound of rumbling waves, Fingal's Cave made a profound impression on Mendelssohn. Through the Hebrides Overture he sought to capture the swell and feel of the Atlantic, and the sound of waves crashing against rocks. "The Hebrides Overture of Mendelssohn is such evocative music and a perfect piece to perform on Cape Ann," points out Maestro Udagawa, "The opening is Mendelssohn's depiction of the ocean waves, and it gently rolls along. Eventually the music builds up to a stormy sequence, and towards the end when the music is again peaceful, one can imagine seagulls soaring over the ocean. The music has such color and sparkle, and it's always wonderful to prepare this piece with the musicians of the orchestra and to perform it." 

Owen Young last played with CAS in March 2022. He performed the  Brahms' Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra with his BSO colleague violinist Lucia Lin. Maestro Udagawa is eager to collaborate with Owen Young again, "Owen Young is an incredible cellist and musician. In addition, he is an incredibly warm and nice person, and that really comes across in everything he does. That's definitely one of the reasons the orchestra, I and our audience love him so much." On March 16th world renowned cellist Young will play Saint-Saëns' Cello Concerto with CAS. Many composers, including Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Rachmaninoff, consider this concerto to be the greatest of all cello concertos. In this demanding concerto Saint-Saëns broke with convention. Instead of using the normal three-movement concerto form, he wrote the piece in one continuous movement which contains three sections sharing interrelated ideas. "The Saint-Saens is a gorgeous concerto which is wildly difficult and virtuosic for the soloist," says Maestro Udagawa, " in spite of the fireworks, Saint-Saens has written a piece of great charm and beauty. The main melody of the second movement is so beautiful and touching. The first movement is fiery and the last movement is also full of difficult passages for the soloist. It's always amazing to see Owen play it with such command and ease. He makes it look easy, but we all know it isn't! I can't wait for CAS audiences to see this thrilling performance!"  

Cellist Owen Young joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in August 1991. A frequent collaborator in chamber music concerts and festivals, he has been featured as concerto soloist with numerous orchestras. Mr. Young has appeared in the Tanglewood, Aspen, Banff, Davos, Sunflower, Gateway, Brevard, and St. Barth's music festivals and is a founding member of the innovative chamber ensemble Innuendo. His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio, WQED in Pittsburgh, WITF in Harrisburg, and WGBH in Boston. He has performed frequently with singer/songwriter James Taylor, including the nationally televised concert "James Taylor Live at the Beacon Theatre" in New York City.

Mr. Young was formerly on the faculties of Boston Conservatory, New England Conservatory School of Continuing Education, and Longy School of Music. He is currently on the faculty of Berklee College of Music and is active in Project STEP, a String Training Education Program  which provides talented young musicians that identify with historically underrepresented groups in classical music with comprehensive music instruction. envisioning a world in which the classical music profession reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of our communities.

Owen Young holds both bachelor's and master's degrees from Yale University. He was a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow in 1986 and 1987. After winning an Orchestra Fellowship in 1987, he played with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 1988 and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1988-89. He was a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in 1986-87 and of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from 1989 until he joined the BSO in 1991. From 1991 to 1996 Mr. Young  was a Harvard-appointed resident tutor and director of concerts in Dunster House at Harvard University. His teachers included Elinor Osborn, Michael Grebanier, Anne Martindale Williams, and Aldo Parisot.

To post a comment, you must register and login.