'Don Quixote' to Open Redwood Symphony’s New Season Sept. 28

[Editor's note: The following was submitted by the Redwood Symphony.]

The epic hero Don Quixote will launch the 2013-14 season of Redwood Symphony Sept. 28 in Richard Strauss’s towering musical masterpiece based on the Cervantes classic.

The concert will begin at 8 p.m. in the Main Theatre of Cañada College, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd. at I-280, Redwood City. 

Soloist Dahna Rudin will use her cello to personify Quixote, a doddering and senile old man who remains unflinchingly romantic, heroic and virtuous as he embarks on various ill-considered adventures against imaginary foes. Of particular note is a very early and picturesque use of atonality in the comic episode of Quixote against the sheep and the first use of a wind machine in the percussion section to characterize his fanciful flight through the air.

The production will feature supertitles over the stage. The program will also include two orchestral dance showpieces. Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1 is the first of two works this season, based on the folk music of that country.

Assistant Conductor Kristin Link will open with Wallingford Riegger’s delightful (and virtually unknown) Dance Rhythms. At Redwood Symphony’s annual Family Concert on Oct. 26, the Northern California premiere of Lorenzo Palomo’s The Sneetches, a work for narrator and orchestra based on the classic Dr. Seuss story about thwarting prejudice, will be featured. Narrated by Walter Mayes (who played the highly celebrated title character in the symphony’s production of Sweeney Todd last season), the tale will be accompanied by projections of Dr. Seuss’s illustrations. 

Children are invited to join the orchestra members and conductor in Halloween costumes. They will be treated to the much-anticipated Tour of the Orchestra, where they are invited to talk with the musicians and learn about their instruments. Finally, ten lucky children (drawn by raffle) will be invited to take the baton and direct a Sousa march. 

Gustav Holst’s showpiece The Planets will anchor the Nov. 23 concert, which will include Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 with soloist Jeffrey Jones. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Dance of the Tumblers and Raymond Scott’s Powerhouse fill out the program. 

The Feb. 22 concert will have a decidedly romantic feel, featuring Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with soloist Jassen Todorov, Brahm’s Symphony No. 1 and Ligeti’s Concert Romanesc. 

On April 19, the symphony will break out with a diverse concert of dazzling energy and rarely encountered works: Adams’s A Short Ride on a Fast Machine, Debussy’s delicious balletJeux, Gottschalk’s A Night in the Tropics and local composer Lee Actor’s Alto Saxophone Concerto with soloist Joe Schillaci. 

The subscription season will conclude June 7 with a program for Russophiles: Schnittke’s(K)ein Sommersnachtstraum, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 1,  with Kristin Link as guest conductor, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with soloist Daniel Glover. 

Redwood Symphony will again play a free outdoor concert in Courthouse Square in Redwood City, on June 21 at 7 p.m., and a Summer Pops concert at Cañada College on July 26. Redwood Symphony is an all-volunteer orchestra dedicated to the performance of ambitious, contemporary repertoire as well as the great orchestral classics. Its August 2012 performance of the Berlioz Requiem at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco was critically acclaimed. 

Maestro Eric Kujawsky gives a pre-concert talk at 7 p.m. at most concerts, and children 17 and under are admitted free with an adult to all subscription events. Individual tickets as well as season subscriptions are available at www.RedwoodSymphony.org.