Casual Classics offers a new night and great music at the Met

Oct 24, 2006

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 326-3136

Spokane Casual Classics at the Met has moved to Saturday night, offering an exciting new classical entertainment opportunity. The concerts, where the musicians leave their formal wear at home and the conductor shares anecdotes about the music with the audience, will be Saturday, Nov. 4 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 5, at 3 p.m.

Music Director Eckart Preu will be joined by a quartet of the principal string players in the orchestra: William Harvey, interim concertmaster; Jason Bell, second violin; Nick Carper, viola; and John Marshall, cello. They will be playing the Schoenberg/Haydn String Quartet that is part of the Moldenhauer Retrospective as part of a program called Vienna City of My Dreams.

According to Preu, Vienna the name of this city makes music lover's eyes glow. Without Vienna music history wouldn't be the same. What happened over the centuries in just this city makes one's head spin. While music has always been an important part of the cultural fabric of Vienna, there was a time when Vienna was literally the world capital of music. Musicians flocked to Vienna to learn and study with the greats of the time and to attend some of the milestone performances of music history.

The accumulation of composers at certain times in history and their influence was so important that it got a name: the Viennese School. Actually, there were two: the First (Viennese School) represented by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert; and the famous Second Viennese School: Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern.

Thanks to the original" Viennese School we have some of today's most popular classical music. This school of composers lived during the Classical Period, and they made many of the enormous changes that were made to musical style in that time period. The Second Viennese School counts as being responsible for one of the major musical revolutions. While their own compositions were characterized by atonalism and the much feared twelve tone technique, their teachings were highly traditional and conservative.

This program showcases the inspiration of the composers of the First Viennese School as well as the phenomenal creative skills of the Second Viennese School, continuing the musical heritage that made Vienna The City of My Dreams.

Tickets are $13, $19, $21, & $25; Call the Spokane Symphony Ticket Office at (509) 624-1200; tickets are also available, with service charges, through TicketsWest at 325-SEAT, 1-800-325-SEAT and www.spokanesymphony.org.