Ed Wolfe's "Teton Sketches" performance

[SDHS Band]

Hello, folks:


I promised you all a note before the September premier of "Teton
Sketches" outlining ticket price and other information. I am so
pleased that the Golden Valley Music Society has offered me a block of
seats for both my Q&A session on September 7th and the concert on
September 13th! As you may recall, there is no charge for the Q&A
session on the 7th (and I have a block of 20 reserved seats). The
reduced ticket prices for my "family and friends" at the September
13th premier are:


ADULT $20 STUDENT 12 TO 18 $10 YOUTH $2.50 CASH/CHECK


These prices represent a considerable discount over the regular t
icket price, and I have 30 seats reserved at this price. All you need
to do to have me reserve your seat is send me an email with your name,
the date(s) you want to attend and which price ticket(s) you want;
I'll reserve the number of seats that you request. Your ticket will be
at the box office window if you are coming to the concert and you can
pay by cash or check. Just give them your name to claim your ticket.
Please reserve your seats right away (I only have 30) as I must turn
in your request by August 31st! Thanks much.


Nothing would be more rewarding than seeing many of you in the
audience at either or both events. I have included a copy of the GVMS
press release as well as the program notes that were provided to me.
Thank you very much, and I hope to see many of you at the performance.
The address is:


September 7th at The Mercantile Bldg. (Q&A session)
40251 Main Street (adjacent to the theater)
0A
Temecula, CA 92590
3:00 PM


September 13th at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater
40251 Main Street
Temecula, CA 92590
7:30 PM


(Copy for Saturday, September 13, 2008 GVMS/TP)


It's opening night and the CURTAIN UP concert by the 22 musicians of
the California Chamber Orchestra engages its audience with music by
two European and two American composers.


In recognition of the upcoming Temecula Valley International Film
Festival, works by the French composer Arthur Honegger and the
American composer Samuel Barber were chosen because many of their
works were either written for or adapted to film scores.


The premiere piece by California composer Ed Wolfe, TETON SKETCHES,
features an audio-visual experience as well; photos of the Tetons will
be projected above the orchestra as the piece is performed.


And the finale by Jacques Ibert is a crowd pleaser. It was written as
incidental music for the play "An Italian Straw Hat", a comedy dealing
with the events and misunderstandings a young man experiences on his
wedding day (you will recognize Mendelssohn's Wedding March),
including the loss of his hat.


You'll leave the theater with an appreciation for these four composers
– and – with a smile on your face!


Program: Honegger – Pastorale D'ete
Barber – Capricorn Concerto
Wolfe – Teton Sketches
Ibert – Divertissement


HYPERLINK "http://www.goldenvalleymusicsociety.org" www.goldenvalleymusicsociety.org


Arthur Honegger (1852-1955) is one of the major figures in 20th
century French music. Born of Swiss parents in Le Havre, France, he
studied at the Conservatories in Zurich and then in Paris. While in
Paris he met the other composers of the famous anti-romantic group
dubbed "Les Six": Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Germaine
Tailleferre, Georges Auric and Louis Durey; they formalized their
association in 1917. The group's ideals included the freedom of music
from all foreign musical traits or influences, especially German.
Their music used everyday life as its subject. Eclectic in taste,
Honegger also enjoyed jazz and composed incidental music for two
classic silent films by celebrated French director Abel Gance.
Pastorale d'ete was inspired by Honegger's vacation in the Bernese
Alps in 1920, and despite that date, its composition gives the
impression of having been written in the 19th century, with its echoes
of Debussy, its limpid quality and its expression of intimate
communion with nature.


Edward W. Wolfe II (1946 - ), whose composition Teton Sketches we are
premiering, was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He graduated from the
University of New Mexico with a Bachelor of Music Education degree and
completed his Master of Music degree in composition. It was while
teaching instrumental music in Albuquerque that he met Warren Gref,
artistic director of the California Chamber Orchestra, who was then
horn instructor at the university. Mr. Gref joined Mr. Wolfe's
Albuquerque Brass Quintet. Mr. Wolfe's varied compositions are
written for orchestra (both chamber and full), chamber music for
piano, strings and wind ensembles, as well as choral works. Teton
Sketches exemplifies the composer's intent "not to tell a story, but
to describe sketches of things that I observe in nature or in my
mind's eye". The introduction presents a dark image of a distant
group of mountains outlined against a clear blue sky. The emergence
of details gives rise to the movement of wildlife (both seen and
imagined), Native Americans dealing with trappers and folk dancing at
twilight.


(Photos of the Tetons will be projected on a screen above the
orchestra as the piece is played.)


Samuel Barber (1910-1981), born in Pennsylvania, developed an early
interest in music, writing his first composition at age seven and his
first opera at age twelve. Two years later he entered the Curtis
Institute of Music where he studied piano, composition and voice.
Barber is best known for his Adagio for Strings but an array of
compositions cemented his reputation: operas, song cycles, chamber
music, piano and violin concerto and two symphonies. Capricorn
Concerto, completed in 1944 is a 14 minute chamber piece for flute,
oboe, trumpet and strings. The Concerto is designed like a Baroque
concerto grosso in a contemporary style and can be characterized as
neo-classical and may have been influenced by Igor Stravinsky.


Jacques Ibert (1890-1962) was born in Paris; his mother was an
accomplished pianist. He entered the Paris Conservatory at age 20 and
nine years later won a prestigious award for his cantata "Le Poete et
La Fee" (the poet and the fairy). His naval service during World War
I inspired his most famous composition "Escales" (Ports of Call). He
compos ed for every genre, including opera, symphony, ballet, choral,
concerto and film scores. Ibert's music has a personality of its own,
very "French" in its humor, whimsy and appealing melodies.
Divertisement (1930) is based on incidental music for the play "The
Italian Straw Hat" and displays his flair for theatrical underscoring
and musical scene painting. The play revolves around a straw hat
belonging to a lady who has arrived in the company of a hussar – not
her husband. Her inability to produce the hat, since a donkey ate it,
threatens both her marriage and her reputation.


Hope to see you there!


Thanks again,
Ed