2021-2022 Season
FALL CONCERT: Tanya Gabrielian plays Shostakovich
Friday, December 3, 7:30 p.m.
Miossi Hall, Performing Arts Center
The Cal Poly Symphony welcomes guest soloist Tanya Gabrielian, hailed by the London Times as "a pianist of powerful physical and imaginative muscle,” to perform Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2. An acclaimed soloist, she has performed with such orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Boston Pops.
In addition to performing internationally, Gabrielian is passionate about community engagement, education, and activism through art. She has collaborated with the National Alliance on Mental Illness in programs highlighting the stigma around mental health issues, and with other artists in multidisciplinary projects that have earned her international recognition.
The orchestra’s program will feature composers with mental illness, including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Robert Schumann and Dmitri Shostakovich, and will serve as the culmination of Gabrielian’s week-long residency in our community. During her stay, she will work with students on the subject of combining music with advocacy.
Repertoire:
Rachmaninoff: Vocalise
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet overture-fantasy
Schumann: Piano Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22
Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, op.102
WINTER CONCERT: Student Soloist Showcase and Music of Mexico
Friday, March 11, 7:30 p.m.
Miossi Hall, Performing Arts Center
Every year, the symphony orchestra holds auditions for student soloists of any major. The prize for several of them is a performance with the symphony! Come hear this year’s winners and celebrate musical talent from across the university. The program also features composers from Mexico.
Repertoire:
Handel: “Mio cor che mi sai dir” from Rinaldo (Dylan Benander, countertenor)
Bach: “Erbarme dich, mein Gott” from the St. Matthew Passion (Mady Frei, mezzo-soprano)
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, mvt. 1 (Karlson Can, cello)
Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14, mvt. 1 (Fiona Soetrisno, violin)
Marquez: Danzón No. 9
Galindo: Poema de Neruda
Revueltas: Sensemayá
Marquez: Conga del Fuego Nuevo
Spring Concert: With Cal Poly Choirs
Sunday, June 5, 3:00 p.m.
Miossi Hall, Performing Arts Center
For its season finale, the Symphony is joined by the combined Cal Poly Choirs. These ensembles had planned to collaborate in Spring 2020 (!), but those plans were put on hold due to the pandemic.
The concert is centered on two works written in the 1930's that spoke to the currents of their time and place. On the first half of the program, the Symphony will perform William Grant Still's Afro-American Symphony, a celebration of black culture and the blues that arose out of the Harlem Renaissance of the early 20th Century.
After intermission, the combined Choirs and Symphony will perform Ralph Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem, a plea for peace written in 1936 as fears grew of renewed conflict. Also on the program are Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk's Melody, performed by the Symphony, and Paul Hindemith's Six Chansons, performed by the Chamber Choir.
Repertoire:
Hindemith: Six Chansons
Still: Afro-American Symphony
Skoryk: Melody
Verbytsky: Ukrainian National Anthem
Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem