Welcome to the Valley Symphony's

2009-2010 Season

 

This year, as Los Angeles Valley College celebrates 60 years of quality affordable education, I am delighted to be your Valley Symphony Orchestra's new music director.  Our tradition of performing repertoire from the Baroque period to newly composed music continues this season with a series of five concerts, each offering a rich and varied musical experience.  From our opening concert of celebration to our final music appreciation concert, we will share with you our friends, a journey passing through many musical roads.  As always, our roster of soloists from southern and central California displays the wealth of talent at our universities and in our communities.  And we have done our best to keep our ticket prices as low as possible, recognizing the need for high quality orchestral concerts at reasonable cost for the over two million residents of the San Fernando Valley.  Yes, we are listening to you, our supporters, and are committed to remaining "your" orchestra.  We are a community - a family of friends who love music new and old.  Come and join us for this upcoming season and share the glory of orchestral music.

 

 

Michael H. Arshagouni, Music Director

 

 

           

 


All concerts take place in the Los Angeles Valley College Mainstage Theatre except as noted.

 

 

Saturday, October 24, 2009, 8:00 PM

 

CELEBRATIONS:

Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn & Los Angeles Valley College

 

Our inaugural concert of the season celebrates the lives of three great composers: Handel on the 250th anniversary of his death, Haydn on the 200th anniversary of his death, and Mendelssohn on the 200th anniversary of his birth.  From the pomp of Handel’s Concerto a due cori No.2, to the evocative drama of Haydn’s oratorio The Creation: Part I, to the virtuosic brilliance of Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No.1 in g minor, the music performed tonight evokes a mood of celebration.  Our featured soloist in the Mendelssohn concerto is Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo professor W. TERRENCE SPILLER.  After the concert we’ll share cake in honor of Valley’s 60th anniversary.

 

Handel:  Concerto a due cori No.2 in F, HWV333

Mendelssohn:  Piano Concerto No.1 in g minor, Op.25 with W. Terrence Spiller, piano

Haydn:  The Creation: Part I with the LAVC Philharmonic Choir and soloists

 

 

 

Saturday, December 12, 2009, 8:00 PM 

Mozart & His Czech Mates

One of Mozart's favorite places was the Czech city of Prague, whose citizens showered him with praise.  Tonight we feature music from Mozart and two of his highly-esteemed Czech friends - Josef Mysliveczek and Joseph Fiala.  Clarinetist JULIA HEINEN, a Valley Symphony favorite, returns with her husband, oboist/English hornist RICHARD KRAVCHAK, in a Fiala concerto.  Selections from Mysliveczek's opera Artaserse mark the US premiere of this work.  And, of course, we feature Mozart with his Overture" from Don Giovanni, which premiered in Prague, and his Symphony No.35 in D, "Haffner".

 

 Fiala:            Concertante in B-flat for Clarinet and English Horn                                                          Julia Heinen, clarinet, and Richard Kravchak, English horn                        Mysliveczek: “Cosi stupisce” from Artaserse (transcribed for bassoon)                                                                           Tara Speiser, bassoon                                                                                Mozart:        “Overture” from Don Giovanni                                                                                   Symphony No.35 in D  “Haffner

 Holiday Music including

            Anderson:     Sleigh Ride                                                                                           How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Medley

 

 

 

 

Saturday, February 20, 2010, 8:00 PM

LAVC Music Recital Hall

 

Chamber Music Concert

 

For a more intimate concert, we present our annual chamber music concert, featuring performances from a number of our orchestra members.

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Flute Quartet

Ludwig van Beethoven : Late String Quartet (TBA)

Arthur Bliss : Clarinet Quintet

 

Julia Heinen - Clarinet

Salpy Kerkonian - Flute

Kadima String Quartet

 

 

 

 

Saturday, March 20, 2010, 8:00 PM

 

English Sensuality:

String Music of the British Isles

 

With the coming of Spring, we feature the full blossom of the orchestral string sound of late 19th- and early 20th-century Great Britain.  In addition to Holst’s lively St. Paul’s Suite and music of Warlock and Britten, we feature our string principals, the members of Valley’s resident KADIMA STRING QUARTET, in Elgar’s luscious Introduction and Allegro for Strings.  This concert will surely delight the ear.

 

Britten:    Simple Symphony

Elgar:    Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op.47

Holst:    St Paul’s Suite, Op.29 No.2

Jenkins:  Palladio: Concerto Grosso for String Orchestra

Warlock:  Capriol: Suite for String Orchestra

 

 

Saturday, May 22, 2010, 8:00 PM

 

Music Appreciation Project:

Musical Favorites

 

This concert considers the music often covered in appreciation classes.  Here we will perform movements from some of the greatest orchestral music ever written, including excerpts from Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 in c minor and Haydn’s Symphony No.94 “Surprise”, as well as Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Smetana’s “The Moldau” from Ma Vlast.  There will be something for every taste – a veritable potpourri of musical confection.

 

Rossini:   “Overture” to La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie)

Haydn:    Symphony No.94 “Surprise” – 2nd Movement

Beethoven:   Symphony No.5 in c minor, Op.67 – 1st Movement

Copland:   Appalachian Spring (Ballet for Martha) original version for 13 instruments

Smetana:  “The Moldau” from Ma Vlast

 

 

 For ticket information, please call the Los Angeles Valley College Music Department office:

818-947-2346

General Admission: $25 / concert

Seniors / Students: $15 / concert