Nature and music combine in weekend concerts

Composer Michael Gandolfi explores the connections between music and nature with a fascinating piece of music entitled “The Garden of Cosmic Speculation” based on the intriguing design of a unique garden found in Dumfries, Scotland. CONTRIBUTED

Composer Michael Gandolfi explores the connections between music and nature with a fascinating piece of music entitled “The Garden of Cosmic Speculation” based on the intriguing design of a unique garden found in Dumfries, Scotland. CONTRIBUTED

The beauty of nature seen and unseen provides the framework for the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra’s Masterworks Series concert “Nature’s Way” slated for Friday, Oct. 14 and Saturday, Oct. 15 at the Schuster Center.

Antonio Vivaldi’s lilting depiction of “The Four Seasons,” one of his best-known compositions, opens the program under the direction of Neal Gittleman. The familiar piece is the collective name given to four separate violin concertos based on the seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. When the prolific composer, one of the most-published composers of the early 1700s, published the work he notably included four sonnets. DPO Concertmaster Jessica Hung is particularly excited for audiences to see the marriage of poetry and music in the performance.

“The Vivaldi is quite possibly the most famous violin music of all time,” Hung said. “Vivaldi also wrote his own poetry to go with the music which will be projected at the concerts with supertitles in real time.”

The concert also features contemporary composer Michael Gandolfi’s “The Garden of Cosmic Speculation,” a vivid, innovative 2009 work inspired by a garden of the same name in Dumfries, Scotland, designed by architectural theorist Charles Jencks and his late wife, Maggie Keswick, an expert on Chinese gardens. The 30-acre garden, which “uses nature to celebrate nature through nature,” specifically displays forms of nature interpreting forces of nature. Gandolfi, chair of the Composition Department at the New England Conservatory of Music and a faculty member of the Tanglewood Music Center, connects the worlds of art, nature, science and music in his lively composition.

DPO Concertmaster Jessica Hung performs one of the best-known compositions of Antonio Vivaldi, “The Four Seasons,” a collective name given to four separate violin concertos based on the seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. CONTRIBUTED

icon to expand image

“I really love this program,” Gittleman said. “It features two fabulous pieces in which a composer finds inspiration in nature. Most everyone knows or at least had heard bits and pieces of Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons,’ where the composer created musical impressions of the sights, sounds and activities of spring, summer, autumn and winter. But almost no one yet knows Michael Gandolfi’s ‘The Garden of Cosmic Speculation,’ an amazingly inventive and beautifully modern orchestral suite inspired by a visit to an amazing science-themed garden in southwest Scotland. So, this concert has something old, something new, and the dazzling artistry of Jessica Hung as violin soloist.”

Additionally, “Gandolfi’s Cosmic Garden” serves as the first concert in the DPO’s Classical Connections Series slated Sunday, Oct. 16. Gittleman will give audiences unique insight into the composer, the music and the interpretation. The format is first-half description and explanation and second-half performance. A question and answer session follows the concert. Concertgoers are also invited to enjoy a free scoop of Graeter’s ice cream following the performance. For the fourth year in a row, the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance is partnering with the University of Dayton and its Arts Immersion Initiative. All first-year UD students enrolled in a Humanities Commons course will attend “Gandolfi’s Cosmic Garden.”

“Working with the University allows our performances to have an impact that goes well beyond a single weekend as the academic collaboration provides context for and connections to the chosen work that would not otherwise be possible,” said Paul Helfrich, president and CEO of the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance. “In this way, the entire community will have a richer, deeper experience, including existing audiences of the performing arts as well as the entire first-year class at the University.”

WANT TO GO?

What: "Nature's Way" (Masterworks Series) and "Gandolfi's Cosmic Garden" (Classical Connections Series).

Where: Schuster Center, Second and Main Streets, Dayton.

When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday (Masterworks Series); 3 p.m. Next Sunday (Classical Connections Series).

Cost: $15-$65 (Masterworks Series); Much of the Mead Theatre will be filled with students from the University of Dayton for the Classical Connections concert but a limited number of tickets in limited price points are available.

Tickets: Call Ticket Center Stage (937) 228-3630 or visit www.daytonperformingarts.org

About the Author