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October 25, 2017Local Legend and Historic Riot Sparked by Stravinsky Take Center Stage at the Albany Symphony
On Saturday, November 18, 2017 at the Palace Theatre, the nationally acclaimed Albany Symphony, under the baton of Grammy® Award-winning conductor David Alan Miller and joined by Broadway actor Charles Busch, will present a musical retelling of Washington Irving’s Rip van Winkle for Narrator & Orchestra by Pulitzer prize-winning composer David Del Tredici.
Also, featured on the program is the Albany Symphony’s first performance in over 25 years of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, the savage masterpiece whose performance sparked a riot at its premiere in Paris. The concert will begin with Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, made world famous by Mickey Mouse’s misadventure in the Walt Disney film, “Fantasia.”
Del Tredici, who celebrated his 80th birthday this year, is an extravagant and forceful contemporary composer whose compositions and Romantic style continue to redefine and reshape American music. Great American composers like Aaron Copland have lauded Del Tredici as “a rare find among composers,” and “a creator with a truly original gift.” OUT Magazine has twice named the composer one of its People of the Year.
David Alan Miller describes David Del Tredici as “…one of America’s greatest living composers. He has enriched the American musical scene with whimsical, wonderfully inventive creations for decades. An unabashedly romantic composer, he has expanded the expressive palate of late Romantic composers like Richard Strauss in wildly creative ways. The Albany Symphony and I are very proud to feature him twice on the 2017-18 season.”
Inspired by Washington Irving’s short story by the same name, Rip Van Winkle is a melodrama inspired by the famous tale of an early Dutch American villager from Upstate New York who ventures into the Catskills and falls asleep for 20 years after meeting the ghostly crew of Henry Hudson. About the work, Del Tredici wrote, “Rip Van Winkle…retells the tale of the American spirit’s ability to accept sweeping changes.” Award-winning Broadway actor and playwright Charles Busch will perform the narration, which was adapted by Del Tredici’s life partner, Ray Warman.
Maestro Miller describes the work as “a great entertainment for the entire family. In fact, the entire concert is the perfect introduction to the wonders of orchestral playing for anyone who hasn’t experienced the thrill of great orchestral music.”
