Concerts - May 2010
The Bold and the Beautiful
- May 15, 2010 - Laxson Auditorium, Chico, 7:30 pm
- May 16, 2010 - Cascade Theatre, Redding, 2:00 pm
- May 16, 2010 - State Theatre, Red Bluff, 7:30 pm
- Haydn - Lo Speziale Overture
- Lowell Liebermann - Clarinet Concerto
California Premiere!
Co-commissioned by North State Symphony - Jon Manasse, clarinet
- Dvorak - Symphony No. 8
Conductor Kyle Wiley Pickett will give a free pre-concert talk before the Redding and Chico concerts one hour before the concerts begin.
NSS participation in the commissioning of the Clarinet Concerto was made possible by the generosity of Dr. Robert Zadra and Sam Kissee. Jon Manasse's appearance as soloist is made possible by the generous assistance of Dr. Kevin Myers and Camille de Ganon.
Lowell Liebermann
Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra,
Op. 110
The Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, Op. 110 was written for Clarinetist Jon Manasse, and commissioned by a consortium of orchestras and organizations comprised of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra (which presented the world premiere performances in November, 2009), Bozeman, Juneau, Las Cruces, North State (California), Roanoke symphony orchestras, Erie and Evansville philharmonic orchestras, The Chappaqua Orchestra, Hanson Institute for American Music at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, Buffet Crampon USA, Vandoren Paris, River Concert Series at St. Mary’s College of Maryland & The Chesapeake Orchestra and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
I have known Jon for many years, since our shared years as students at Juilliard. He performed and recorded my Clarinet Quintet, and I have always thought he is a fantastic player - one of the absolute best. He was interested in my writing a clarinet concerto, and it fell to Tom Parker, Jon’s manager, to take on the heroic task of getting together a consortium - of 14 different orchestras and organizations - that commissioned the work.
“... Bugs Bunny in a hula skirt with maracas”
An interview with Lowell Liebermann
Click here (Dayton Philharmonic website) and listen to an interview with composer Lowell Liebermann about his new Clarinet Concerto. The interview was conducted for the concerto's world premiere in November 2009.
Or click here for a transcript of excerpts from the interview.
Read a review in the Roanoke Times of Jon Manasse's performance of the Liebermann Concerto. "But when the Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, Op. 110, by American composer Liebermann cruised to a breathless finish and the standing ovation and shouts of bravo were echoing through the hall, it seemed clear that we had heard a piece that will remain in the repertoire for decades to come."
The concerto, my first for clarinet and orchestra, was completed during the summer of 2009. It is scored for piccolo, with pairs of flutes, oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones and tuba; plus timpani, two percussionists playing on a variety of instruments that include slapstick, bass drum, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, ratchet, woodblock, cowbell, jawbone, maracas, cymbals, snare drum, triangle, gourd, tambourine, tubular bells, glockenspiel, xylophone, marimba and vibraphone; harp, one keyboardist playing both piano and celesta, and the normal string complement. Orchestral clarinets are absent.
The work is in three movements. The first is an Andante that gives way to a Presto, ending with a restatement of the Andante the second, marked Larghissimo with a central section of variations marked Grave; and the last, an Allegro with a pronounced Latin influence.
– Program Notes by the composer





