Pacific Symphony's Tchaikovsky Spectacular with Fireworks and Cannons
Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (Irvine, CA)
Rated 3.5 by 12 members who went.
The Pacific Symphony brings their Summer Festival 2008 to a dramatic close with Tchaikovsky Spectacular, spotlighting the best of Russian composers. Led by Music Director Carl St.Clair, dazzling fireworks and thundering cannons will punctuate the night sky at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine. The orchestra will be joined by violinist Augustin Hadelich, the gold-medal winner of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.
Event summary prepared by the Goldstar Editorial Team.
All dates for this event have expired.
The last event was Saturday September 6, 2008 / 8:00pm. (view all dates)
Don't Miss Out On Any More Events!
No Photos Yet
Check back to this section to see pictures from this event!
5 Member Reviews
Reviews are sorted first by profile photo (reviewers with profile photos are displayed first), second by the total number of kudos the review has received (the more kudos, the earlier the review appears), third by date written (newer reviews appear before older reviews).
More Details
Program:
- Shostakovich Festive Overture
- Tchaikovsky Selections from “The Nutcracker”
- Rachmaninoff Vocalise for Violin and Orchestra
- Stravinsky Selections from “Firebird”
- Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
- Tchaikovsky “1812” Overture
The concert features highly talented violinist Augustin Hadelich—the gold-medal winner of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis—who performs two evocative works: Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise.” Also on the program are selections from Tchaikovsky’s beloved “The Nutcracker,” Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture” and selections from Stravinsky’s “Firebird.”
“The Tchaikovsky concerto to me is one of the most beautiful romantic violin concertos,” says Hadelich. “I think some aspects of it are influenced by the Mendelssohn concerto, but the harmonic and melodic writing and the character couldn’t be more Russian! I played the Tchaikovsky concerto for the first time when I was 11 years old, and there are definitely some challenges that never get any easier. But I never get tired of it.”
Hadelich adds, “And the Rachmaninoff ‘Vocalise’ works quite well in the violin arrangement because the violin is such a vocal instrument. Of course, transcribing a piece to a different instrument always changes it—and it's one of the challenges of playing transcriptions—to try to bring some of the feeling of the original to the transcribed version.”
Lauded as a “brilliant violinist” in the New York Times, Hadelich has established himself as an eloquent and unique voice among the new generation of violinists. A remarkable person in many respects, it was shortly after becoming a burn-victim survivor that he went on to win the Indianapolis competition’s first-prize package, which included $30,000, a four-year loan of the 1683 ex-Gingold Stradivari violin and Tourte bow, a Naxos label compact disc recording contract and more than 40 concert engagements worldwide, including a U.S. and international tour entitled “Pure Gold.” Hadelich also received special awards for best performances of a Romantic concerto, Classical concerto, Beethoven sonata, violin sonata other than Beethoven, Bach work, commissioned work, encore piece and Paganini caprice.
