Eric Bertoluzzi will conduct Up Close and Musical, an ensemble of Colorado Symphony Orchestra musicians, in the finale of the Chamber Music of the Masters season at 2 p.m. on May 17 in Hampden Hall at the Englewood Civic Center. The concert honors the late, beloved Englewood mayor, Olga Wolosyn, who was a champion for arts in her city. She died in September 2007.
Featured on the program is a new work, “Tango Suite,” by pianist/composer Jonathan Geer, a Texan. A graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, with a degree in film scoring, Geer has worked with directors local and international. He performs regularly with the Austin Piazzolla Quintet, which specializes in music by the late Argentine composer Astor Piazolla, who invented the nuevo tango style.
Geer wrote about the new work: “The `Tango Suite for String Orchestra' originally began as three separate pieces written for the Austin Piazzolla Quintet …. The first piece is `Tango Muerte,' modeled after some of the more traditional tangos that Piazzolla wrote.” The tempo is fairly steady and the length is fairly short, at around three minutes. In the middle section, the rhythm of the accompanying strings underneath the melody is one that you will hear in many tangos.
“The second piece, `Ghost Milonga II' is written in the style of Piazzolla's haunting, slow milongas.” You will hear a few ghostly harmonics .…
“The final piece, `Los Compadritos,' is a gritty and rhythmically intricate composition inspired by some of the early progenitors of the tango. A compadrito is a person of the generation whose grandfathers fought in Argentina's war of independence from Spain ….”
Also on the program will be music by Mozart, Grieg, Hindemith, Gershwin and Bartok.
If you go:
Up Close and Musical will perform the annual Olga Wolosyn Memorial Concert at 2 p.m. May 17 at Hampden Hall in the Englewood Civic Center, 1000 Englewood Parkway. Tickets: $15/$12; free under 18; englewoodarts.org or at the door one hour before the concert. Note: This is a popular event — early arrival is suggested.
