On Saturday, Nov. 8 at 8pm, Edwin Outwater, the versatile young conductor of Ontario’s Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, will step to the podium of the Terrace Theater at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center to lead the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra in the second of six classical concerts. Outwater comes to Long Beach after a critically acclaimed 10-concert series as music director of San Francisco Symphony’s Summer Concerts.
The program will first take audiences back to yesteryear with a performance of Rossini’s “William Tell Overture,” perhaps better known as the theme from The Lone Ranger on TV and radio. It will then segue into the 20th century with British composer Gerald Finzi’s (1901-1956) “Clarinet Concerto,” featuring Long Beach Symphony’s principal clarinetist, Gary Bovyer, who also serves as principal clarinetist for the Hollywood Bowl and other ensembles
“This is a rarely performed work, perhaps due in part to the difficult string parts,” Bovyer says. “The style is reminiscent of Finzi’s British contemporaries, Elgar and Vaughn Williams.”
Following intermission, the symphony will perform Ravel’s “Mother Goose Suite,” which was originally composed as a piano duet for children, then transformed and expanded into a ballet in 1911.
The evening will conclude with music from another ballet of the same vintage— Stravinsky’s “Firebird Suite.” It is based on Russian folk tales of the magical glowing bird that can be both a blessing and a curse to its owner. But that’s where the similarities between the Ravel and this work end.
“We are very excited to welcome Maestro Outwater to our orchestra and to our community,” said Long Beach Symphony Executive Director Kelly Ruggirello. “He is one of the most innovative conductors on the scene today and we look forward to benefiting from his creativity and energy.”
Ticket holders may enjoy pre-concert music in the theater lobby and may attend a 7pm pre-concert talk by Outwater. This concert, and the entire Long Beach Symphony Classical concert series, is sponsored, in part, by Lexus.
Tickets start at $21; student tickets are available for $10. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit the Symphony’s website at longbeachsymphony.org or call (562) 436-3203.
Source: LBSO
