The Evergreen Symphony Orchestra will head to southern Taiwan for two concerts in December and feature early, middle, and late Romantic period masterpieces.
The performances will take place on Dec. 12 at Kaohsiung Weiwuying Concert Hall and Dec. 13 at Pingtung Performing Arts Center. ESO's Artist-in-Residence Jaap van Zweden will collaborate with South Korean violinist Park Ji-yoon (朴智潤), concertmaster of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, to present a captivating year-end musical feast.
The concert will open with the “William Tell” Overture, from the Italian master Rossini’s final operatic work. Not only was the opera widely acclaimed at its 1829 premiere, but it continues to be performed regularly almost 200 years later. The overture is divided into four sections: "Prelude: Dawn," "Storm," "Ranz des Vaches," and "Finale: March of the Swiss Soldiers."
Following this overture will be the romantic Mendelssohn “Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64.” As one of the German composer’s most important works, the concerto is considered a cornerstone of the violin repertoire.
The Evergreen Symphony Orchestra has invited Park Ji-yoon, laureate of the 2009 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels and concertmaster of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, as its special guest soloist. Through her refined and masterful technique, she will interpret this piece and allow audiences to experience the harmonious balance between technical prowess and emotional expression.
The second half of the concert invites listeners to immerse themselves in the tranquil warmth of romantic sentiment, with Maestro van Zweden conducting Brahms’ “Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73.”
This accessible work, also known as the “Pastorale” symphony for its bright and bucolic nature, is a masterpiece that the German composer completed in just three months while vacationing in the Austrian countryside. The work’s cheerful and lyrical mood is reminiscent of “Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6,” also known as the “Pastoral.”
These concerts present timeless masterpieces representing three periods of the Romantic era by three masters with distinctly different styles.
They include the passionate fervor of Rossini's “William Tell” Overture, the lyrical beauty of Mendelssohn's “Violin Concerto in E minor,” and the serene tranquility of Brahms' “Symphony No. 2 in D major.”
For ticket information, visit the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra's official website or the OPENTIX National Theater and Concert Hall ticketing system.
