Pianist Viv McClean will make a welcome return to Medina Theatre on Saturday March 16th to perform the Gershwin Piano Concerto with the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra. His virtuosity has made him a firm favourite with Island audiences.
Viv won First Prize at the Maria Canals Piano Competition in Barcelona and has since appeared as the concerto soloist with numerous leading orchestras, including the Royal Philharmonic and the Halle.
Gershwin’s Piano Concerto
Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F is a fabulous fusion of jazz and late Romantic music. The piece brilliantly captures the rhythmic dynamism and melodic immediacy of jazz in a musical language that is Gershwin’s own.
It sparkles on every level, a spectacular audience pleaser with real emotional depth. A solo work but also a thrilling ensemble piece that demonstrates Gershwin’s astonishing gifts.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s ‘Othello’
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s ‘Othello’, written in 1912 for a London production of Shakespeare’s play, will receive a rare Island performance. It is a gem of Edwardian theatre music, distinctively of its time during the more prosperous years before the First World War.
There has been a renewed interest in the music of Coleridge-Taylor in recent years and the Isle of Wight Symphony’s conductor, Jonathan Butcher, is a notable champion.
‘Till Eulenspiegels lustige streiche’
‘Till Eulenspiegels lustige streiche’ is a musical depiction of a character from European folklore who inflicts practical jokes on those around him. It’s composer, Richard Strauss, was an orchestrator par excellence and he puts the performers through their paces throughout.
Like his contemporary Mahler, Strauss combines folk elements with lush Romantic complexity. Whether music can be truly comedic is debatable but it’s all great fun nonetheless.
Cesar Franck’s ‘Le Chasseur Maudit’
Also on the programme is Cesar Franck’s ‘Le Chasseur Maudit’ (‘The Accursed Huntsman’). Had Franck been born in the Twentieth Century he may well have written music for the cinema.
His tone poem is wonderfully melodramatic, spiriting the orchestra away on a horse ride through a forested landscape. Always entertaining, the music is filled with the thrills and spills of the chase.
Where and when
The concert takes place at Medina Theatre on Saturday 16th March 2024. Book your tickets via the Medina Theatre website.
The evening begins at 7.15pm and the orchestra is delighted to be supporting The Wight Brainy Bunch at all of its concerts this season.
Sponsorship from Wightlink is invaluable in helping the orchestra maintain the high quality of their concerts from year to year.
