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Northwest Sinfonietta closes season with Mozart’s triumphant ‘Prague’ symphony
By Zachary C. Person
Media contact: Karin Choo
TACOMA, Wash. – The Northwest Sinfonietta under the direction of guest conductor Mei-Ann Chen closes the 2021-2022 season with “In Place and Time” May 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the historic Rialto Theater in Tacoma (310 S. 9th St.) and on May 22 at 2:00 p.m. at Pioneer Park Pavilion in Puyallup (330 S. Meridian).
Guest conductor Mei-Ann Chen, making her Northwest Sinfonietta debut, has been lauded as a compelling communicator on and off the podium, and to date has worked with over 110 orchestras worldwide. Chen currently serves as music director of the MacArthur Award-winning Chicago Sinfonietta and Austria’s Recreation Grosses Orchester Graz at Styriarte, artistic partner of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston, Texas, and artistic director and conductor of the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra summer festival. Notable conducting engagements have included the symphonies of Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle, Indianapolis, Chicago, San Francisco and Houston, the BBC Scottish Symphony, Danish National Orchestra, Sweden’s Gothenburg and many others.
Reena Esmail’s “Teen Murti” for string orchestra opens the program. Named after New Delhi’s Teen Murti, the former residence of the first prime minister of India (which itself is named after the three sculptures standing in front of the building), the work draws on Hindustani musical traditions intertwined with western compositional techniques. Esmail is an Indian-American composer based in Los Angeles who works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music. She has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, Imani Winds, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Chicago Sinfonietta and many others.
Demarre McGill, principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, is featured in the “Concierto Pastoral” by Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1978 for internationally acclaimed flute soloist James Galway, “Concierto Pastoral” exudes joyful freedom throughout. McGill is an internationally acclaimed soloist, recitalist and orchestral musician. Prior to joining the Seattle Symphony, he served as principal flute of the Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra and Santa Fe Opera, and has also performed as acting principal flute of New York’s Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Accolades include an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and solo appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the symphonies of Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Baltimore and Dallas.
W.A. Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K. 504 “Prague” closes both the program and the season for the Northwest Sinfonietta. Already raving over his music, audiences in Prague were buzzing over rumors of an appearance by Mozart to conduct his hit opera “The Marriage of Figaro” in January, 1787. Upon arrival from Vienna, Mozart also brought with him the manuscript for a symphony completed only a few weeks prior in December, 1786. Despite not having composed a symphony for three years, No. 38 was an unequivocal triumph. Its musical heft, refined sophistication and mastery of the form made it an immediate sensation, and the “Prague” symphony has since earned its place as one of the finest symphonies in the western canon.
Tickets $22-50. Student, military and group discounts available. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit: www.nwsinfonietta.org
The Northwest Sinfonietta 2022-2023 season opens October 9 and 10 with works by Aaron Copland, Carlos Simon and Maurice Ravel. Season tickets available now; single tickets on sale September 1, 2022.
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About the Northwest Sinfonietta: The Northwest Sinfonietta was founded in 1991 by harpsichordist Kathryn Habedank and conductor Christophe Chagnard. The 35-member ensemble is the premiere chamber orchestra in the Puget Sound region and blends the intimacy of chamber music with the power of a full orchestra. In 2015, the Northwest Sinfonietta became one of the few orchestras in the world to move to an Artistic Partner model of operations, giving the musicians of the ensemble a larger role in the programming and vision for the ensemble. Learn more about the orchestra at: www.nwsinfonietta.org.