Oakland, CA, February 1, 2016 - The world premiere of a new piccolo concerto by Bay Area composer Martin Rokeach highlights the Oakland Symphony's concert scheduled Friday, March 18, at 8 pm at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. Music Director Michael Morgan will conduct and the program also includes Cherubini's Requiem featuring the Oakland Symphony Chorus, Lynne Morrow, Director, and Beethoven's Second Symphony. The evening begins at 7 pm with no-host drinks, free pre-concert lobby entertainment and a pre-concert talk. Tickets are priced $20-$75 and may be purchased at www.OaklandSymphony.org or by calling 510-444-0802.
Beethoven is said to have preferred Luigi Cherubini's 1815
Requiem to Mozart's better-known and more widely performed one. Composed to commemorate the regicide of France's Louis XVI, it showcases brooding and majestic melodies, smoldering harmonies and a pulse-pounding
Offertorium in the form of a fugue. Beethoven's Second
Symphony (1802) bears the marks of the energetic and iconoclastic composer at full stride. Bay Area musicologist Robert Greenberg asserts that the work's opening bars evoke the composer's hiccups due to gastric problems, and who but Beethoven could spin a symphony from such humble material? Bay Area Composer Martin Rokeach's new Piccolo Concerto featuring the Symphony's own Amy Likar promises to showcase the instrument's uniquely beautiful voice and what the composer calls "its haunting low register."
About the Artists
Martin Rokeach's works have been performed by the
Pacific Mozart Ensemble, Ensemble Variant (Geneva),
Chameleon Arts Ensemble (Boston), the United States Army Orchestra, Dunsmuir Piano Quartet (San Francisco), League of Composers (NY), the
Chicago Ensemble, Musica Nova (Macedonia), Duo Sforzando (Geneva), Wyck Trio (U.K.), Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble, the St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Players, the Sheridan Players (Chicago), the
Webster Trio (Houston), Guitarinet(Poland), New Dischord (Chattanooga), Tempo (Los Angeles) and many other outstanding ensembles and soloists throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia. His works have earned honors in over a dozen national or international competitions, most recently those sponsored by the International Horn Society, International Clarinet Association, National Flute Association, and the
Chicago Ensemble. He has been commissioned to write music for the Ellsworth Smith International Trumpet Competition, New York's Cygnus Ensemble, Switzerland's Dobrzelewski/Marrs Duo, San Francisco's Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Music Teachers Association of California, New York's Eight Strings and a Whistle, and numerous soloists. He has been a featured composer and speaker at the Haute École de Musiquein Sion, Switzerland, Hartt Conservatory of Music, New York University and Wichita State University, and concerts devoted exclusively to his music have been held at
Washington State University and Western Carolina University.
Mr. Rokeach earned his Ph.D. in music composition and theory from Michigan State University, and Bachelor's and Master's degrees from San Francisco State University. He teaches at Saint Mary's College and is one of the founders and artistic directors of Berkeley's contemporary music concert series, Composers, Inc.
Amy Likar is a member of the Oakland
Symphony and teaches for the Music For Excellence (MUSE) program. As a freelance musician, she has performed with numerous groups throughout the Bay Area of California. She performs in the Alcyone Ensemble with flutist Rena Urso-Trapani and
Ciel, Aer et Vens with soprano Jenni Cook and pianist Miles Graber. She holds Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor's in Music
Education and Flute Performance from Kent State University. Her flute teachers include Martha Aarons, Katherine Borst Jones, Randy Hester, Peter Lloyd and Tim Day. In 1991-92, Ms. Likar taught high school English in Swaziland,
Southern Africa.
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