Concerts

Fall Concert: Spiller Plays Grieg

Saturday, November 19
8 p.m., Cohan Center

The Cal Poly Symphony kicks off its season with two masterpieces of the 19th century.  Pianist W. Terrence Spiller will perform Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, a brilliant work written when the composer was only 24 years old.  Since its premiere, the concerto has been hailed as a perfect showcase for the soloist, an excellent work in the Germanic tradition of Beethoven and Schumann, and a work that draws on the dance rhythms and folk melodic structure of Grieg’s native Norway.  Whatever it is for you, don’t miss our performance with Spiller at the piano.

Spiller, a prize winner in international piano competitions, was recognized as the outstanding doctoral graduate of 1991 by the University of Southern California’s School of Music. He has performed across the U.S. as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and accompanist. He chairs the Cal Poly Music Department.

The symphony will also perform Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.  Completed in 1812, this symphony is an excellent representative of Beethoven’s “heroic” style, erupting into victorious A major, just as Grieg’s concerto explores the drama of A minor.

Tickets ($10 and $12 general, $8 and $10 seniors, $6 students)

Winter Concert: Student Soloist Showcase

Sunday, March 4
3 p.m., Cohan Center

Every year, the Symphony holds auditions for student soloists of any major.  The prize for several of them—a performance with the symphony, of course!

Come hear this year’s winners and celebrate musical talent from across the university.

This year, you will also be able to hear some of the music that the symphony will take on its April tour to the District of Columbia, including Kodaly’s “Peacock” Variations.  We are thrilled to perform as the culmination of the 2012 Washington, D.C., International Music Festival.  Many will hear us perform in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, but you may get a preview right here in San Luis Obispo!

Tickets ($10 and $12 general, $8 and $10 seniors, $6 students)

Spring Concert: Rule Brittania

Saturday, May 26
8 p.m., Cohan Center

Works by English masters including Thomas Tallis, Herbert Howells, Gustav Holst and Benjamin Britten, plus featured works by Ralph Vaughan Williams:

• “Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis”
• “Dona nobis pacem”

Thomas Davies and David Arrivée, conductors

Tickets ($13 & $15 general, $12 & $14 seniors, $8 students)

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