CAMERATA PYP PROGRAM NOTES: FELIX MENDELSSOHN: THE HEBRIDES, OP. 26

Posted on May 11, 2022

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) began writing The Hebrides at the age of 20. This remarkable work had already been preceded by multiple masterworks by one of history’s greatest musical prodigies. The Hebrides (sometimes called Fingal’s Cave) was called an Overture by Mendelssohn, although it was never meant to precede anything. It is truly an early effort at... Read More ›

SPRING CONCERT PROGRAM NOTES: CHARLES-CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS: VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 3

Posted on May 8, 2022

Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns, (born October 9, 1835, Paris, France—died December 16, 1921), was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era. Camille Saint-Saëns was one of the most multifaceted romantic composers, well-known for his beautiful melodies and his remarkable musical prowess. He was outstanding from a young age; at the age of thirteen, Saint-Saëns was... Read More ›

SPRING CONCERT PROGRAM NOTES: POLINA NAZAYKINSKAYA: APRIL SONG, SYMPHONY NO. 1

Posted on May 8, 2022

My First Symphony traces a journey of the human spirit in search of personal freedom, solace and eternal love. The trials and tribulations of doubt culminate in a struggle to find inner peace, as the illusion of happiness crumbles and a sense of direction is lost. Anticipation of a new dawn presses against the... Read More ›

WINTER CONCERT PROGRAM NOTES: PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY:SYMPHONY NO. 5

Posted on March 5, 2022

It is amazing to think that the great composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), today one of the most beloved and most often played composers, required patronage to survive. Tchaikovsky’s fellow composer and sometime rival Brahms became a wealthy man in his lifetime from music publishing, but this was not to be for Tchaikovsky. He and his... Read More ›

WINTER CONCERT PROGRAM NOTES: SERGEI PROKOFIEV: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1

Posted on March 5, 2022

Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891-1953) was born in Sontsovka, Ukraine. Born to an agricultural family in a small village, Prokofiev was exposed to local folk tunes and peasant songs from a young age which often infiltrated his musical works later on in life. His mother, a pianist, saw potential in the young boy and regularly sent... Read More ›

WINTER CONCERT PROGRAM NOTES: WILLIAM GRANT STILL:  THRENODY: IN MEMORY OF JEAN SIBELIUS

Posted on March 5, 2022

William Grant Still (1895 – 1978), born in Mississippi to schoolteachers and raised in the Black intellectual culture of Little Rock, Arkansas, had not only African American, but also Spanish, Native American, and Scots-Irish ancestry. He was also the first generation of his family not born into slavery.

Still initially planned to study... Read More ›