WSO to perform at Carnegie Music Hall
For the first time, Washington Symphony Orchestra will perform at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland Thursday in “Willa Cather’s Iron City Music.”
The concert is free, but tickets are required for admission.
The concert, which will be held from 8 to 10 p.m., is being offered in conjunction with the 16th International Willa Cather Seminar, June 11-17.
Cather, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, lived in Pittsburgh from 1896 to 1906. She is best known for her “pioneer” novels, “My Antonia, O Pioneers!” and “The Song of the Lark,” but her work also included short stories, newspaper columns and 12 novels.
“We are thrilled to play wonderful repertoire that Willa Cather enjoyed and wrote about during her stay in Pittsburgh,” said Yugo Ikach, WSO music director. “To sit in Carnegie Hall, close one’s eyes and be transported back in time to 1905 is a sublime treat for one’s senses and imagination.”
Cather reviewed Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performances in the same hall where WSO will play. The program will consist of pieces that Cather may have heard at the venue or were featured in her work in some way.
“This will be a wonderful opportunity for those with musical, literary and/or historical interests, along with those who might simply be curious, to take in a delightful, free concert at the Carnegie Music Hall and experience firsthand some of the cultural riches of both Cather’s Pittsburgh and the present-day region,” said Dr. Kim Vanderlann, one of the concert organizers.
Among the eight featured pieces are Mozart’s “Overture to the Magic Flute,” Wagner’s “Siegfried’s Funeral March” from “Götterdämmerung” and Rossini’s “Overture to the Barber of Seville.”
The concert is sponsored by California University of Pennsylvania, Duquesne University, Penn State Greater Allegheny, St. Francis University, the Willa Cather Foundation and the Washington Symphony Orchestra.
Tickets can be reserved by calling Brett Vanderlaan at 301-919-1835 or emailing ironcityconcert@aol.com. Tickets also are available at Peters Township Public Library and Citizens Library in Washington.
For more information about the Willa Cather Foundation, visit www.willacather.org. For more information about the symphony, visit www.washsym.org or connect with the WSO on Facebook (facebook.com/washsymphony) and Twitter (twitter.com/washsymphony).