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Archived for Issue V16-N13
Published March 6, 2008

Arts & Entertainment, The Amherst Citizen Newspaper Amherst & Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, Letters, Town, Schools, Sports, Region, Advertising

Nashua Public Library
Paintings by Jin Rwei at Nashua Library
The paintings of Jin Rwei will be on exhibit at the Nashua Public Library in March and April.
Inspired by the scenery and foliage of New England, Rwei says, she also favors subjects like “the mist, fog, reflections, and moonlight, through which the real world is veiled in mystery.”
Born in Taiwan, Rwei emigrated to the United States in 1985. A software engineer for many years, she never pictured herself as an artist, until 1998, when she took several hours’ of oil painting lessons. Since then she has painted dozens of impressionist-style paintings, mostly landscapes.
Photographs from Rwei’s travels inspired her paintings of Boldt Castle, Lake Winnipesauke, and a pond near Clark Art Institute. Friends have also provided photos, of a harbor in fog, Desert Mari Gold, and Mt. Rainier, that became subjects for paintings. Rwei believes one need not be physically present to capture nature on canvas.
More information on the exhibit is available at the artist’s Web site, www.jinrwei.com.
An artist’s reception will be held at the library on Saturday, April 5, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
The exhibit may be viewed during normal library hours, Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The library is located at 2 Court Street. For more information, call 603-589-4610 or visit www.nashualibrary.org.

March at East Colony Fine Art
MANCHESTER - East Colony Fine Art Gallery will have Lawrence Donovan as Feature Artist for the month of March. In his show, “Moment to Moment,” his oil paintings attempt to capture moments in time, using weather and changing light to illustrate passing moments, remembering events in moments, recalling people and things loved in moments - all taking the viewer on a journey through time. The exhibition runs through March 29.
On Saturday, March 8, at 10:30 am, Suzanne Binnie will present a talk: “Working on a Primary Triad in Watercolor,” and on Saturday, March 15, from 10-4, Elaine Farmer will conduct a workshop on “Color Theory and How to Simplify Color Mixing.” Participants will learn how to use a color wheel to analyze harmonization of a controlled palette. Fee: $60. Call Elaine at 432-2447 for information and/or to register. The gallery is free and open to the public at 55 South Commercial Street, Manchester. Phone: 621-7400. Web site: www.eastcolony.com.

“Clearing Skies” by Lawrence Donovan

Celebrating Spring with Palace Festival Orchestra on March 30
MANCHESTER – The Palace Festival Orchestra will present Celebrating Spring, with a concert of “Mostly Mozart,” on Sunday, March 30, at 4 p.m., at the historic Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester, NH.
While it is highly likely snow will still be on the ground, the concert to honor the coming season will feature soloists Doug Worthen on flute and Kathleen Lyon-Pingree on harp performing Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp.
A New Hampshire native, Worthen received his bachelor of music and music education degrees through the Hartt School of Music followed by study at L’Institut d’Hautes Etudes Musicales in Montreux, Switzerland. He received his masters of music with honors at the New England Conservatory in Massachusetts.
Kathleen Lyon-Pingree, a graduate of Northwestern University, has performed with various ensembles, including the Keene Chamber Orchestra, Raylinmor Opera, Keene Chorale, Concord Chorale, Nashua Symphony, Chorus Pro Music, Palace Theatre Orchestra, Chicago Lyric Opera and the Granite State Symphony Orchestra.
Artistic Director Robert C. Babb will conduct the performance, which will also include Mozart’s Il Re Pastore Overture and Symphony No. 40, K. 550, G Minor.
Tickets are $15 to $40 for those 18 and under; $36 to $40 for adults, and $33 to $40 for those 60 and over.
Tickets are available at the Palace box office, 80 Hanover St., Manchester, NH 03101, by calling (603) 668-5588, or logging on to www.palacetheatre.org.

Nashua Chamber Orchestra Announces March Concerts
NASHUA – The Nashua Chamber Orchestra, directed by David Feltner and featuring two exciting, young soloists, ushers you into spring on March 8 (Daniel Webster College Collings Auditorium, Nashua, 8:00 PM) and 9 (Milford Town Hall on the Milford Oval) with works by Vivaldi, Rameau, Arriaga and Britten.
Vintage Vivaldi vibrates with verve and vigor from the vivacious virtuoso violins of Bill Johnson and Sam Roseman. Prize Students of Beth Welty, the orchestra’s accomplished and inspiring concertmistress, these local high school seniors have already compiled impressive musical dossiers, performing in venues such as Symphony Hall and Lincoln Center. This opus 3 concerto (1711) is the eleventh of a set of twelve concerti known as L’Estro Armonico. The two violin soloists are accompanied by cellist Marilyn Perry, a dedicated member of the NCO since 2004. The lively outer movements, including a spirited fugue, enclose a soulful Largo, all in the key of D minor. If, as someone once quipped, “Vivaldi wrote the same concerto six hundred times,” this one, with its graceful, alluring melodies and rich interplay between soloists and orchestra, must be the template for all the others.
Sprightly rhythms and sonorous woodwind timbres captivate the ear in Jean-Phillipe Rameau’s Dance Suite (1735—1745). The five movements are compiled from several of the composer’s popular ballets, as was the custom of the time. The ornamented phrases conjure images of elegant French courtiers stepping and whirling adroitly to the engaging motifs. No wonder the famed ballet master, Gardel, affirmed that “Rameau perceived what the dancers themselves were unaware of; we thus rightly regard him as our first master.” The NCO woodwinds whet your appetite with this eclectic sampling of this prolific opera composer’s acclaimed ballets.
Infused with the exuberance of youth, yet tinged with a darker quality, Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga’s (1806—1826) Symphony in D Major (1823) provokes joy and melancholy at once, as the listener is left to ponder how this promising young composer might have developed, if only his life had spanned more than twenty brief years. Arriaga, a luminous child prodigy born fifty years to the day after Mozart, has been dubbed the ‘Spanish Mozart’. His music spans the period between the classicism of Mozart and the romanticism of Beethoven and Schubert, containing elements of both, but tending more toward classical forms. This serious yet charming symphony, one of his last compositions, is finely crafted, with lyrical themes reminiscent of Schubert, and dynamic flashes of bravura temperament suggestive of Beethoven. A treasure trove of interesting melodic ideas, harmonic tapestries and instrumental textures, Arriaga’s only symphony leaves the wistful listener vainly longing to hear the fruition of this germinal style, so rich with its unfulfilled, youthful promise.
Benjamin Britten, England’s prolific and most beloved twentieth century composer, was born on November 22nd, feast day of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music. The son of musical parents, and a child prodigy like Mozart and Arriaga, he composed his first works at age five, amassing a considerable output by the time he was fourteen. At age twenty, in 1934, Britten wrote his Simple Symphony for string quartet or string orchestra, incorporating themes from his childhood, as early as age nine! Simple though it may be to identify the well defined themes, following their combinations and permutations becomes more complex, like recognizing characters in a novel, who appear disguised in different contexts. Throughout this boisterous work with its intricate interplay of thematic elements, major and minor tonalities merge and metamorphose like a chiaroscuro painting. From the opening declarative D minor chords, decisive rhythms propel the listener along with driving momentum, and the musicians, with demanding string technique. Contrasts abound, but perhaps the most stark is the “Sentimental Sarabande” with its brooding intensity. The momentum is restored in the “Frolicsome Finale”. It is difficult to fathom how the composer managed to fit so much material into such a concise form.
The concert will take place on Saturday, March 8 at 8:00 PM, Daniel Webster College Collings Auditorium, Nashua, and Sunday, March 9 at 3:00 PM, Milford Town Hall on the Milford Oval. Tickets are priced at $15 adult, $13 senior, and $8 students. Children under 12 are free. Tickets may be purchased at the door, online, or at Darrell’s Music Hall in Nashua, and Toadstool Books in Milford. Each concert is followed by a reception, where audience members can meet the musicians.
Visit our website, www.nco-music.org, or phone (603) 554-6164, for more information.

Manchester Choral Society Host Benefit Gala
The Manchester Choral Society hosts a “Swings” benefit gala on Saturday, March 15 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Manchester Country Club, South River Road, Bedford. The evening includes elegant appetizers, cash bar, swing dance lessons provided by Paper Moon Dance Studio, dancing, and live music by the Freese Brothers Big Band. Raffles and silent auction included.Tickets are $50 per person and available by calling the Choral Society at 472-6MCS.
Visit the chorus online at www.mcsnh.org.

Nashua Symphony Orchestra gives you The Inside Story
With guest conductor Jonathan McPhee and violin soloist Irina Muresanu

The Nashua Symphony Orchestra’ 2007 | 08 season continues with an effervescent program on Saturday, March 15 at 8:00 p.m. at Nashua’s Keefe Auditorium. Entitled “The Inside Story”, the concert takes listeners on a journey deep inside three contrasting works by Beethoven, Weinstein, and Barber, each with its own tale to tell.
Leading the performance will be conductor Jonathan McPhee, the fourth of four finalists in the symphony’s international search for a new music director appearing with the NSO this season. Maestro McPhee finds this program especially compelling, noting that “The thread that unifies this evening’s works is the very personal approach exhibited by all three composers.”
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F Major is at once his most ebullient and intimate symphony, a portrait of himself. As Maestro McPhee puts it, “the Eighth is really not so much a piece of music as a person. The personality of the piece is so boisterous, so filled with explosions of joy and outbursts of laughter …for me it is an undiscovered gem.”
This will be another exciting night for the NSO and its audience, who will be invited to give their feedback on the performance and conductor through an interactive form at http://www.nashuasymphony.org. Audience members will also be invited to meet Mr. McPhee at a post-concert dessert event held at Nashua’s Crowne Plaza, whose desserts were named “Best in New Hampshire” by New Hampshire Magazine. Ticket holders will receive 10% off their bill at this “Grand Finale.”
This concert is notable for the return of violin virtuoso Irina Muresanu, who dazzled Nashua’s audience last season (playing the Brahms Violin Concerto). For this concert, Ms. Muresanu tackles one of the most light-filled of all American pieces: the Violin Concerto of Samuel Barber. Like Barber’s other works, his Violin Concerto is bursting at the seams with melody. Having worked together in the past, Ms. Muresanu and Mr. McPhee are excited to have this chance to collaborate again.
According to Mr. McPhee, “Michael Weinstein’s Chamber Symphony is filled with flavors of Stravinsky but truly spoken with Weinstein’s own individual voice. Michael uses each instrumental color very effectively and the rhythmic interest throughout makes the work feel contemporary but conversational and appealing.” This 20-minute work opens the program; its Nashua premiere is all the more meaningful to the NSO because Mr. Weinstein is a regular member of our horn section!
Conductor: Jonathan McPhee
Jonathan McPhee is equally at home as a conductor for the symphony, ballet, and opera. As Music Director for Boston Ballet, he has received critical acclaim for his work with the Company and Orchestra, which is the second largest musical organization in Boston. Mr. McPhee is also Music Director for the Lexington Symphony, Symphony by the Sea, in Marblehead, MA, and the Longwood Symphony Orchestra (The Orchestra of Boston’s Medical Community).
Guest engagements this past season include the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Plymouth Philharmonic, Youngstown Symphony, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife in Spain, and the Lithuanian National Orchestra. Other orchestras Mr. McPhee has conducted are the BBC Scottish Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, the Louisiana Philharmonic, The Hague Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre Colonne (Paris), the National Philharmonic Orchestra in London, the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway.
Mr. McPhee has conducted for many of the world’s most distinguished dance companies including the New York City Ballet, The Royal Ballet (England), Martha Graham Dance Company, National Ballet of Canada, and The Australian Ballet. In addition to a broad repertoire in the field of dance, Mr. McPhee has conducted pops concerts, musical theatre and operetta. He has also conducted grand opera with Opera Boston, the American Opera Center in New York, and Boston University Opera.
Mr. McPhee’s works as arranger and composer are in the repertoires orchestras and ballet companies around the world. His edition of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring is the only authorized reduced orchestration of this work. Mr. McPhee’s compositions and arrangements are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. his edition of Stravinsky’s complete Firebird for Boosey & Hawkes was recently performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony.
Born in Philadelphia, Mr. McPhee received his L.R.A.M. from the Royal Academy of Music, and a B.M. and M.M. from The Juilliard School. While at Juilliard, Mr. McPhee was the recipient of a Naumburg Scholarship in Conducting and English Horn. He has studied with Leonard Brain, David Diamond, Thomas Stacy, Rudolf Kempe, Sixten Ehrling, and master classes with Sir Georg Solti and James Levine at Juilliard.
Violin Soloist: Irina Muresanu
Irina Muresanu has won international acclaim as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. She has received top prizes in international violin competitions including the Montreal International, Queen Elizabeth Violin, UNISA International String, Washington International, and the Schadt String Competitions. She is the winner of the Pro Musicis International Award, the Presser Music Award and the Arthur Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association. Recent engagements as soloist include concerts with the Boston Pops, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Geneva), the Syracuse Symphony, the Metropolitan Orchestra (Montreal), the Transvaal Philharmonic (Pretoria), the Orchestre de la Radio Flamande (Brussels), the Boston Philharmonic, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, and the Miami Symphony Orchestra. Irina Muresanu’s performances have been frequently cited as among the “Best of” classical music performances by the Boston Globe, and her recital in the Emerging Artist BankBoston Celebrity Series was named one of the Top 10 musical events by TAB Magazine.
An active chamber musician, Ms. Muresanu is a member of Mistral, and has appeared in such festivals and venues as Bargemusic in New York; the Rockport Festival in Massachusetts; Bay Chambers concert series and Bowdoin Festival in Maine; the Strings in the Mountains festival in Colorado; Maui Chamber Music Festival in Hawaii, Reizend Music festival in Netherlands; Festival van de Leie in Belgium; and the Renncontres des Musiciennes festival in France.
Irina Muresanu serves on both the faculties of the Boston Conservatory and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Music Department. She was appointed Artist-in-Residence as a member of the Lewin-Muresanu Duo at the Boston Conservatory, as well as at the New England Conservatory’s Preparatory Division as a member of the Boston Trio. She received the prestigious Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory in 1999, where she is currently a candidate for her Doctorate in Musical Arts. Irina Muresanu plays an 1856 Joseph Rocca violin and a Charles Peccat bow, courtesy of Mr. Mark Ptashne.
Ticket Information
Tickets, priced from $10 to $47, are available at the Nashua Symphony Box Office, 6 Church St., can be charged to major credit cards by calling 603.595.9156 or can be purchased online at www.nashuasymphony.org. Discounts for seniors and groups are available. Request a season brochure online, by phone, or via email to NSO@NashuaSymphony.org