Guest artists and choirs join the orchestra on Dec. 4
The premier orchestra of the USC School of Music, the USC Symphony Orchestra, with university choirs and renowned guest artists present masterpieces by three great Romantic composers on December 4 at 7:30 at the Koger Center for the Arts. Conductor Scott Weiss presents a pre-concert talk at 6:45 p.m. on the Koger stage. Valet parking is available.
Francis Poulenc - Gloria with Kelly Cae Hogan, soprano and USC Concert Choir and University Chorus
Amédée-Ernest Chausson - Poème, op. 25 with William Terwilliger, violin
Maurice Ravel - Daphnis and Chloé, Suite No. 2
Soprano Kelly Cae Hogan, USC Concert Choir and University Chorus perform on Francis Poulenc’s Gloria. Early in his career in Paris, Poulenc developed a lighthearted style, but the tragic death of a friend reawakened the Catholic faith of his childhood that led to the composition of a number of religious works. He never abandoned his fun-loving, Neoclassic style though, which surfaces in Gloria, one of three large-scale sacred works composed toward the end of his life.
Having recently made her London debut as Brünnhilde, American soprano, Kelly Cae Hogan is attracting international attention for her dramatic portrayals in Wagner, Strauss, Verdi and Puccini. Hogan sang Brünnhilde in Wagner’s Ring Cycle (Der Ring eludes Nibngen) for Opera North at the Royal Festival Hall in London, and on tour in other UK cities.
Poème is considered by many, Amédée-Ernest Chausson's best-known and most-loved compositions. Written while he was visiting Florence, Italy, he wrote three different versions of Poème: with orchestra, with piano accompaniment, and this recently discovered version for violin. The lyrical Poème, a single-movement work published in 1896, just three years before Chausson’s death, is based on “The Song of Triumphant Love,” a short story by the Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright Ivan Turgenev. It’s the tale of two young men who fall in love with the same woman.
Violinist and professor William Terwilliger performs on Poème. He has enjoyed an exceptionally active and diverse career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral musician and teacher. As soloist with orchestra, Terwilliger has performed with orchestras on five continents and is currently concertmaster of the Long Bay Symphony in South Carolina. He has also performed with the Rochester Philharmonic and the Brevard Music Center Festival Orchestra, and served as concertmaster of the Boulder (Colorado) Bach Festival Orchestra.
Sergei Diaghilev, the impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, commissioned Maurice Ravel to compose Daphnis et Chloé in 1909. Diaghilev’s choreographer Michel Fokine had adapted the ballet scenario of the shepherd lovers Daphnis and Chloé from the fourth-century Greek narrative poem, as retold by Renaissance French poet Jacques Amyot. Dissatisfied with Fokine’s version, Ravel made adjustments and worked intermittently on the ballet between 1909 and 1911. So intent on this in March 1910 at Valvins, Ravel had to be rescued by friends from the Seine’s rising flood waters. Daphnis and Chloé contains some of the most glorious music the composer ever wrote. The Second Suite, performed on this concert, has become one of Ravel’s most frequently played orchestral works. Stravinsky considered Daphnis et Chloé “not only Ravel’s best work, but also one of the most beautiful products of all French music.”
Tickets
Concerts are FREE for USC students with student ID – must be picked up from the Koger Box Office, corner of Park and Greene, before 5:00 p.m. on the day of the performance or in the Koger Center lobby immediately prior to the performance.
General public $30; seniors / military / USC faculty and staff $25; children under 18 and non-USC students with ID $8
Call 803-251-2222, in person at Koger Box Office, corner of Greene and Park Streets (M-F 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or online.