Autumn is in the air, school is back in session, and it’s time to party with the Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra, which opens its new season with two concerts of celebratory music this weekend, and a gala featuring music, dance lessons, and plenty of fun.
Conductor Ming Luke is setting the mood for the whole year by opening the concerts with the Overture to Die Fledermaus, by Johann Strauss, Jr., which he described as “wonderful, effervescent, and very exciting” music to start the season. “It’s like you’re at a champagne party, cocktail in hand, and it is just so much fun and frivolity,” he told Intermezzo host Leora Zeitlin in this short phone interview.
The festive theme continues with the “Danse Bacchanale” from Samson and Delilah, by Camille Saint-Saens, which is “overflowing with excitement and revelry,” he said, and then the orchestra will perform “one of the most iconic works in the entire canon, the From the New World Symphony of Dvorak.”
Listen to the interview to learn more about how Antonin Dvorak came to write this beloved symphony while living in the United States at the end of the 19th century, the influences that both his native Bohemian folk music and the African-American spirituals he heard here had on him, and the influence he, in turn, had on such composers as John Williams.
Note that the Saturday concert time has been changed to 7 p.m. at the Atkinson Recital Hall, and the Sunday concert takes place there at 3 p.m. The gala takes place on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at the Las Cruces Convention Center. In addition to dinner, there will be live music with the Dixieland Jazz Band, a live auction, and dance lessons. More information at www.lascrucessymphony.com.
Musical clips heard in the interview:
• Clips 1. and 2.: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World,” by Antonin Dvorak, second and third movements (Largo and Scherzo), performed by the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Rafael Kubelik (Deutsche Grammophon, cd #4631582);
• Clip 3: “Danse Bacchanale” from “Samson and Delilah,” by Camille Saint-Saens, performed by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit conducting (London, cd #421527);
• Clip 4: Overture to “Die Fledermaus,” by Johann Strauss, Jr., performed by the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Seiji Ozawa (Philips, cd #468999).
