Concerts - February 2010

Natalya ShkodaHot Passions from Cold Climates

  • February 20 , 2010 - Cascade Theatre, Redding, 7:30 pm
  • February 21, 2010 - Laxson Auditorium, Chico, 2:00 pm

Conductor Kyle Wiley Pickett will give a FREE pre-concert talk one hour before the concerts begin. In Redding, pre-concert lectures take place in the Cascade Theatre, and in Chico, in Room 134 of the CSU, Chico Performing Arts Center.

Program Notes

Natalya Shkoda, piano

A native of Kharkiv, Ukraine, Natalya Shkoda is considered to be one of today’s most dynamic young artists, teachers, and competition adjudicators. Dr. Shkoda holds degrees and diplomas from Arizona State University, the Kharkiv State University of the Arts and the Kharkiv Special Music School for Gifted Children in Ukraine. Her major piano teachers include Ms. Bella Yukht, Dr. Sergei Polusmiak, the Honored Artist of Ukraine, and Professor Walter Cosand.

Since presenting her first solo recital and winning her first National Composer’s Competition in Kiev, Ukraine, at the age 13, Natalya Shkoda performed numerous solo, accompanying and chamber music recitals in Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, France, and throughout the U.S. She has appeared as a soloist with the MasterWorks Symphony Orchestra in New York, the Southwest Symphony Orchestra in Arizona. Her performances and compositions were widely broadcast in both Ukraine and the U.S.A., as well as by the BBC Radio 3 “In-Tune” in London, U.K.; the Radio Sweden “Kaleidoscope” in Stockholm; the ABC Classic FM in Sydney, Australia; the Klara Radio in Brussels, Belgium; and the Radio New Zealand “Classical Morning” and “Cadenza” in Wellington.

Being in a high demand as an artist and clinician, Dr. Shkoda is regularly invited to present guest artist recitals and master classes throughout the U.S. and to adjudicate various piano competitions. She participated in the International Symposium “Arnold Schoenberg Reconsidered” (2005), the International Conference “Schumann’s Perspectives: A View across the Disciplines” (2006) and the Loeffler New Music Symposium “Music and the Cutting Edge” (2008), in addition to the MTNA, the CMS and the numerous festivals and conferences in her native Ukraine. Dr. Shkoda’s recent performances included recitals at the prestigious Ukrainian Institute of America in New York City, the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago and the Washington Group Cultural Fund Recital Series in Alexandria, VA, as well as concerts and master classes nationwide. In the summer 2009, Natalya Shkoda was the invited Concert Artist and Clinician at the Arizona State Music Teachers’ Association Conference in Phoenix.

Dr. Natalya Shkoda joined the Music Department at California State University, Chico, as Assistant Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies in 2008. She teaches piano and keyboard-related courses and oversees the keyboard performance and pedagogy options at CSU, Chico. Prior to her appointment at Chico State, Dr. Shkoda was on a faculty at Arizona State University and Maricopa Community Colleges in Arizona. Many of her private students became the winners of various piano competitions and were accepted into the music performance programs at the universities nationwide. Dr. Shkoda is also Artistic Director of the annual Earl R. and Marilyn Ann Kruschke Prize in Piano Performance, a competition for talented high-school seniors and college-level students in the state of California.

Natalya Shkoda recorded two CDs featuring the Piano Works by Viktor Kosenko for the “Toccata Classics” label in London, U.K. Her debut CD of Kosenko “Eleven Etudes in the Form of Old Dances,” Opus 19, was the first Western recording of this set of pieces. The CD was released in 2006 to a critical acclaim in the U.S. and abroad, including reviews in Fanfare, Classical Music Guide, Music Web International, All-Music Guide, Ukrainian Weekly, Classical Source and International Piano.

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Glinka – Russlan and Ludmilla Overture

Operas, especially Russlan and Ludmilla, established Russian composer, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka (1804-1857) as a cornerstone of Russian classical music. Through a somewhat unusual childhood, Glinka was only exposed to folk music until his grandmother’s death when he was eleven. In his later education, he was exposed to the greats of Western classical music and opera, but realized that he must develop his own style instead of imitating foreign music. At the age of twenty-nine, Glinka finally received his first formal compositional training from Siegfried Dehn in Berlin.

Russlan and Ludmilla was composed between 1837 and 1842 and first performed in St. Petersburg. Throughout the opera, Glinka’s “changing background” technique is used, in which a folk melody is repeated as the orchestration changes underneath. This technique later influenced other significant Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky.

At the time Glinka composed music for Pushkin’s play Russlan and Ludmilla, he had just separated from his wife, resigned from his job and entered a deep depression. When the imperial theater agreed to produce the opera, it was not yet complete and still missing the overture. The score was chaotic and disconnected in part due to his mental state over its five years of composition.

As the opera was already in rehearsal, Glinka quickly composed the overture using a sonata form. Despite using some conventional Western compositional techniques, Glinka was also unconventional in his distant key changes, somewhat unrelated harmonies and use of the whole-tone scale. He was one of the first Russian composers to utilize the whole-tone scale; it was later used by Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky. Although the drama and plot of the opera itself were not widely appreciated, the music became influential and continues to influence composers today, and the Overture is frequently performed on concert programs.

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Prokofiev – Piano Concerto No. 1
Allegro brioso; Meno mosso; Andante assai; Allegro scherzando

From a pampered child to persecuted composer, Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) was full of fire and creativity throughout his life. Raised as an only child in a wealthy household, Prokofiev attended many operas between ages of eight and ten and was composing regularly at the same time. By 1902, he was receiving formal musical education during the summers and began attending the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1904. Prokofiev composed his Piano Concerto No. 1 following his graduation, and performed it before the Conservatory in 1914.

The performance had mixed reviews, with one critic saying “[it] hardly deserves to be called music,” and another considered it “musical mud”. With the performance, however, Prokofiev won the Rubenstein Award, with the prize of a grand piano.

Prokofiev’s Concerto  No. 1  has since been described as youthful, full of dry humor and passion. It  is the shortest of Prokofiev’s concertos, in one movement but four sections. The piece requires strength and speed; it requires the pianist to be in constant motion through the Allegro brioso. As the piece transitions into the second and slower sections, Andante assai, the Russian passion is evident and continues to build through the Allegro scherzando to the end with a flourish.

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Sibelius – Symphony No. 2
I. Allegretto
II. Andante ma rubato
III. Vivacissimo
IV. Allegro moderato

His unique music covering a range of emotions, Johan (Janne) Sibelius (1865-1957) is Finland’s most prominent composer. From the start of his musical education, Sibelius was more interested in improvising at the piano rather than studying existing literature. Sibelius’ love for nature and the desire to emulate it in his music manifests through small motifs, sustained notes and luscious chords. An interest in Finnish legends and poetry led to themes of Nationalism and increased Sibelius’ popularity. He became the pride of his country.

Thanks to a wealthy benefactor, Baron Axel Carpelan, Sibelius was able to take his family to Italy in 1900  for a year. It was there that he composed Symphony No. 2. The work was described by Karl Ekman as “a song of praise to summer and the joy of living, a work of wide horizons with light and power…softened by a more optimistic outlook on life and a joyful feeling at the delight of creating.” It was a pleasant time in his life, one that produced great creativity. Symphony No. 2 is a work that has been surrounded by discussion as to its “meaning.” Many believe it represents strong national character, liberation, patriotism, or deliverance from tyranny. Sibelius described it as “a struggle between death and salvation.”

Elements such as the opening theme of the Allegretto suggest folk music influence. Rhythmic ideas transcend the written music and do not always follow the classical “rules” of meter. It is as if the rhythm is embellished. The Andante ma rubato movement has a sorrowful and haunting feel. The third movement, Vivacissimo, is  on the frantic side with a triumphant finale. The final movement, Allegro moderato, is partially in rondo form, but wanders around the original theme and concludes with a culmination of earlier material. The entire work exemplifies the enthusiasm and excitement that Sibelius had for life and music.

Program notes by Lauren Sharkey

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