2015-2016 Season
ENSEMBLE SHOWCASE
Friday, October 23, 8 p.m.
Harman Hall, Performing Arts Center
Cal Poly’s 2015 Parent and Family Weekend will include the Music Department's "Ensemble Showcase" concert at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, in Harman Hall of the Performing Arts Center. Music Department Chair W. Terrance Spiller (pictured) will serve as Master of Ceremonies, and the concert will feature the department's major performing ensembles: the Cal Poly Symphony, Cal Poly Choirs (PolyPhonics and The University Singers), University Jazz Band I, Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble and Cal Poly Wind Ensemble.
Repertoire:
Selections from our Fall Concert (see below)
FALL CONCERT: "Back to Nature"
Sunday, November 22, 3 p.m.
Harman Hall, Performing Arts Center
Our opening concert is a celebration of nature. Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides Overture” was written in response to his visit to the Hebrides islands and captures the undulating sea in music. In our world premiere of "Great Wings" by faculty composer Antonio G. Barata (pictured), music evokes the majesty of humpback whales, and in Respighi’s “Pines of Rome,” nature is a doorway to history and to the many sides of the Eternal City.
Repertoire:
Mendelssohn - Hebrides Overture, op. 26
Antonio Barata - Great Wings
Respighi - Pines of Rome
WINTER CONCERT: "Student Soloists / Sibelius 2"
Sunday, March 6, 3 p.m.
Harman Hall, Performing Arts Center
Every year, the Symphony holds auditions for student soloists of any major. The prize for several of them - a performance with the Symphony, of course! Come hear this year’s winners and celebrate musical talent from across the University.
The program will also include a performance of Symphony No. 2 in D Major by Jean Sibelius (pictured), a lush and powerful work from a composer known for austerity and a frugality of musical material.
Repertoire:
Bowen - Viola Concerto in C minor, op. 25 - mvt. 1 (Stephen Jue)
Weber - Bassoon Concerto in F Major, op. 75 - mvt. 3 (Emelia Banninger)
Menotti - “Steal me, sweet thief” from The Old Maid and the Thief (Kelly O’Shea, soprano)
Stradella - “Pietà, Signore” (Chris Wall, tenor)
Mendelssohn - Violin Concerto, op. 64 - mvt. 1 (Mario Ojeda)
Sibelius - Symphony No. 2 in D Major, op. 43
OPEN HOUSE CONCERT
Friday, April 15, 8 p.m.
Harman Hall, Performing Arts Center
After an exciting day at Cal Poly’s Open House, come and enjoy an evening of live entertainment by three of the Music Department’s finest instrumental ensembles: the Cal Poly Symphony, University Jazz Band, and Wind Ensemble.
Repertoire:
Sibelius - Symphony No. 2 in D Major, op. 43 (mvts. 1 and 4)
SPRING CONCERT: "Fauré Requiem"
Saturday, June 4, 8 p.m.
Harman Hall, Performing Arts Center
The Cal Poly Symphony and Choirs join forces every other year. For this collaboration, we chose Gabriel Fauré's transcendent Requiem as the cornerstone of our concert and invited the Music Department's own Dr. Meredith Brammeier to compose a new work for choir and orchestra. Other selections were chosen from the countries the Symphony will visit on our tour (Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria).
Repertoire:
Copland - Variations on a Shaker Melody
Dvorák - Slavonic Dance in G minor, Op. 46, No. 8
Strauss, Joh. Jr. - Wiener Blut, op. 354
Bartók - Hungarian Sketches
Brammeier - “Blow, Winds, Rage, Blow!” (world premiere, with choirs)
Fauré - Requiem, Op. 48 (with choirs)
CENTRAL EUROPEAN TOUR
June 17-27
Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic
The Symphony embarks on its first international tour in June 2016. We will perform in Vienna, Budapest and Prague, and experience Central Europe’s cultural riches first-hand. For more detail and donation information, visit our Tours page.
Repertoire:
Copland - Variations on a Shaker Melody
Dvorák - Slavonic Dance in G minor, Op. 46, No. 8
Strauss, Joh. Jr. - Wiener Blut, op. 354
Bartók - Hungarian Sketches
Brammeier - “Blow, Winds, Rage, Blow!” (world premiere, with local choirs)
Fauré - Requiem, Op. 48 (with local choirs)