St. Matthew's Music Guild will open its 41st season Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. with a concert featuring the Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew's, conducted by Dwayne S. Milburn and violinist Movses Pogossian.
The program opens with Felix Mendelssohn's Overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream," written when the composer was 17 years old. The piece features musical depictions of Shakespeare's characters, including the fairies Puck and Oberon and the weaver Bottom.
Pogossian will perform Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor as the evening's featured soloist. The Russian-born violinist made his American debut performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Boston Pops. Boston Globe critic Richard Dyer wrote at the time, "There is freedom in his playing, but also taste and discipline. It was a fiery, centered, and highly musical performance."
Pogossian has since performed with orchestras worldwide and now serves as Distinguished Professor of Violin at UCLA.
The concert concludes with Beethoven's Second Symphony, written in 1802 as the composer was coming to terms with his increasing deafness. The transitional work bridges Beethoven's earlier Haydnesque style with the monumental approach of his later "Eroica" Symphony.
Due to the Palisades fire in January, concerts have been temporarily relocated to St. Augustine by-the-Sea Church at 1227 Fourth Street in Santa Monica. The guild anticipates returning to St. Matthew's in Pacific Palisades in December. Parking is available across Fourth Street in the Santa Monica Public Parking Structure.
Single tickets cost $45. Season passes for all seven concerts are available for $285, representing a 10% savings.
St. Matthew's Music Guild presents "World-Class Music close to Home" in Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica. The guild is anchored by the Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew's under Music Director Dwayne S. Milburn and presents distinguished guest soloists and ensembles. Each season offers eight programs, complemented by the guild's Choral Initiative, new-music commissions and community concerts.
For complete season information, tickets and season passes, visit MusicGuildOnline.org.
Edited by SMDP Staff