Bainbridge symphony orchestra

The Music of Shakespeare

Music Director & Conductor David Upham

November 8 & 9, 2008
Saturday @ 7:30 p.m. & Sunday @ 3:00 p.m. (pre-concert chat 45 minutes ahead of each performance)

Tickets
$18 for adults, and $15 for seniors, students, youth, military, and teachers

Sponsors
Season Presenting Sponsor: Rainier Investment Management
Music acquisition for the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra's 2008-2009 Season was funded by the Fletcher Bay Foundation.

Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra’s 2008 – 2009 Season opens with a program celebrating music inspired by the works of William Shakespeare, and featuring pieces by Beethoven, Vaughan Williams, and Prokofiev. The November concerts are the first installment in a season which celebrates the art of storytelling, and in the view of Music Director David Upham, “there’s no better place to start than with the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon.”

Ludwig van Beethoven was an ardent admirer of Shakespeare, and when his friend, Heinrich Joseph von Collin, authored his own adaptation of the story of Coriolanus, Beethoven drew from both sources to create his Overture. A terse and dramatic work, it vividly portrays the iron-willed Coriolanus. In the end, Coriolanus is forced to choose his compassion over vengeance, although it costs him his life.

Two British composers are featured prominently, including highlights from William Walton’s film score for Henry V, and the orchestral version of Vaughan William’s Serenade to Music. Originally set for voices and orchestra, Vaughan Williams chose Lorenzo’s soliloquy to the power of music from Act V of The Merchant of Venice. It is hard to imagine a more beautiful, yet mysteriously little-known piece of music.

The program closes with selections from Serge Prokofiev’s powerful ballet score, Romeo and Juliet. Prokofiev was astonishingly successful in portraying the full depth of the story in purely music terms. From the cheerful break of day, to the passionate embrace of the young lovers, to the final heart-wrenching conclusion, the score reveals the deep passions and tragedy that continues to make this perhaps the most popular of Shakespeare’s works.

The Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra is led by Music Director David Upham in partnership with Bainbridge Performing Arts. Season performances continue with Fables and Fairy Tales on March 7 & 8; and Film Music Through The Ages on May 30 & 31; plus a special collaboration with Bainbridge Island Youth Orchestra—A Musical Heritage—on April 26.