Chief Conductor Charles Dutoit, who was originally scheduled to conduct The Philadelphia Orchestra's March 3 Beyond the Score® program and subscription concerts on March 4, 5, and 8, has regrettably withdrawn due to illness. The Orchestra will now present a Beyond the Score concert featuring Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons' on March 3. Concertmaster David Kim will appear as soloist and leader for this concert. The originally scheduled Beyond the Score program of Strauss's 'Ein Heldenleben' will no longer be performed. Updated program and artist information about the Orchestra's subscription concerts on March 4, 5, and 8, will be announced shortly.
In early-18th-century Venice, one of the most beautiful and civilized cities in Europe, there were a number of celebrated boarding schools in which young girls were trained in singing and playing instruments to spectacular virtuosity. Antonio Vivaldi-composer, violinist, and Catholic priest-was the musical director of the most famous of these schools, the Pietà .
For the girls of the Pietà 's orchestra he poured out a torrent of glittering music that astonished Europe. The immensely popular sequence of four concertos called 'The Four Seasons' was published in a book called The Argument of Harmony and Invention.
Each is preceded by a poem by Vivaldi himself, in which he describes the actions and delights of each season as depicted in his music with all the vividness of one of the great Italian paintings from the same period.
Beyond the Score - Vivaldi: 'The Four Seasons' - Natural Beauties?
March 3 at 7:00 PM - Thursday evening - Verizon Hall at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
Beyond the Score® is produced by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Gerard McBurney, Creative Director, Beyond the Score
Martha Gilmer, Executive Producer, Beyond the Score
Tickets: $25-$55, 215.893.1999 or www.philorch.org.
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