Boléro & Blue

Saturday, August 6 | 7pm

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📍Classical Tahoe Pavilion

⏱ approx. 1 hr 20 min (including intermission)

🎻 Orchestra Series

Concert At A Glance

  • Rhapsody in Blue for Piano and Orchestra is one of Gershwin’s most recognizable works. You may know it from this or this!
  • Dvorak describes Carnival as an observer of a scene:

“The lonely, contemplative wanderer reaches the city at nightfall, where a carnival is in full swing. On every side is heard the clangor of instruments, mingled with shouts of joy and the unrestrained hilarity of people giving vent to their feelings in their songs and dance tunes.”

  • The first performance of Ravel’s Boléro was given at the Paris Opéra in 1928. The premiere was acclaimed by a shouting, stamping, cheering audience in the midst of which a woman was heard screaming: “The madman! The madman!”. When Ravel heard about this, he replied: “That lady… she understood.”

What You'll Hear

Program

Antonín Dvořák: Carnival Overture, Op. 92 

George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue for Piano and Orchestra
Aldo López-Gavilán, piano

– Intermission – 

Johannes Brahms: Hungarian Dances

Maurice Ravel: Boléro

Featured Artists

Classical Tahoe Orchestra

The Classical Tahoe Orchestra is composed of 70 of the most prominent musicians from major orchestras around the world, including the MET Opera, SF Opera, Zurich Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, and symphonies of San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, Toronto, Houston, and more. 

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Ken-David Masur, conductor

Hailed as “fearless, bold, and a life-force” (San Diego Union-Tribune) and “a brilliant and commanding conductor with unmistakable charisma” (Leipzig Volkszeitung), Ken-David Masur is Principal Conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

In the 2021/2022 season Masur leads a range of detailed programs with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, which celebrates its first performances in its new hall, the Bradley Symphony Center in downtown Milwaukee.  He recently debuted with the San Francisco Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestras and will lead performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Rochester Philharmonic, and the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra.

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Aldo López-Gavilán, piano

Praised for his “dazzling technique and rhythmic fire” in the Seattle Times and dubbed a “formidable virtuoso” by The Times (London), Cuban pianist and composer Aldo López-Gavilán excels in both the classical and jazz worlds as a recitalist, concerto soloist, chamber-music collaborator, and performer of his own electrifying jazz compositions. He has appeared in such prestigious concert halls as the Amadeo Roldán (Cuba), Teresa Carreño (Venezuela), Bellas Artes (Mexico), Carnegie Hall and Jordan Hall (U.S.), Royal Festival Hall (U.K.), Nybrokajen 11 (Sweden), The Hall of Music (Russia), and Duc de Lombard et Petit Journal Montparnasse (France), as well as venues in Canada, Santo Domingo, Colombia, Spain, Greece, Hong Kong, Burkina Faso, Germany, and Austria.

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