Plainfield Symphony 94th Season
Spring Awakenings Concert
Under the baton of Charles Prince, the Plainfield Symphony will present its next concert "Spring Awakenings" on Saturday March 29. The program will include two French masterpieces, Ravel’s Valses Nobles et Sentimentales and Saint-Saëns’ famous Organ Symphony.
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Born in 1875, Maurice Ravel transcribed a suite of waltzes in 1912 from the original piano solo work. Influenced by Franz Schubert in genre only, the suite consists of eight different waltzes including an epilogue. Along with Claude Debussy, he is known as a French "impressionist" composer.
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Piano Concerto in A major will be 15 year old Claudia Hu, the Silver Medal winner of the 2013 Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey. As a multiple time competition winner, Claudia has appeared numerous times in New York City in major performance halls, and in Chioggia, Italy, as well as other various venues throughout New Jersey.
The Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78, was completed by Camille Saint-Saëns in 1886 at what was probably the artistic zenith of his career and is noted especially for its grand use of an organ in the final movement. More than a century later, the main theme of the last movement was recast as a lullaby for an ailing pig—the protagonist of the 1995 film Babe. Featured organ soloist will be Ronald Thayer, well-known to Plainfield audiences. Mr. Thayer is a graduate of the Westminster Choir College and for seventeen years was the Minister of Music, Organist and Director of Crescent Concerts at the Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church and collaborated with the PSO on several occasions. Mr. Thayer will perform on the famous Gilbert F. Adams pipe organ installed in 2004. French in conception, it is an ensemble instrument with a four-manual console and 5,124 pipes which blend the best tonal qualities of the 19th century Romantic organ with the 18th century French Classic organs.The Plainfield Symphony, established in 1919, is New Jersey's oldest community symphony and the third oldest in the country. Season tickets for the 2013-2014 concerts are now on sale and can be purchased on our website, www.plainfieldsymphony.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the concert.
