2008-09 Season: Nov | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May

A Global Celebration
January 23, 2009
Friday, 8:00pm, Paramount Theatre, Oakland

Selected as One of the Top Classical Music Events in 2009
by the San Francisco Chronicle! (Jan 4, 2009)

Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 3 (1883)
Michael Morgan, Conductor

Aaron Copland Appalachian Spring (1944)
Bryan Nies, Conductor

Nolan Gasser World Concerto for Cello & Orchestra
(World Premiere) Commission and guest artists sponsored by Bell Investment Advisors, Inc.
featuring Maya Beiser, cello;
also with
Jiebing Chen, erhu
Aruna Narayan Kalle, sarangi
Bassam Saba, oud

Michael Morgan, Conductor

We're delighted to bring international cello sensation Maya Beiser to the stage of the Paramount, to perform a concerto written for her by local composer Nolan Gasser. The Israeli-born Beiser, who was raised on a kibbutz by her French mother and Argentinian father, has captivated audiences worldwide with her virtuosity, eclectic repertoire and daring performance style. The concerto, international in character, will include the use of non-Western instruments in the orchestra.

The World Concerto also features three acclaimed musicians in the field of world music. The Chinese two-stringed, bowed instrument, the erhu, will be played by virtuoso artist Jiebing Chen. Aruna Narayan Kalle is one of the few women in the world to play the sarangi, an Indian bowed short neck lute. A world-renowned instrumentalist, conductor, and composer, Bassam Saba will play the oud, an Arab plucked instrument similar to a lute.

The concert will also include performances of Aaron Copland's beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning and quintessentially American work, Appalachian Spring, and Brahms' lyrical Symphony No. 3, whose famous theme from the third movement is one of Brahms' most beautiful melodies.