Don Quixote to open Redwood Symphony’s new season Sept. 28

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, 10 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 ballet Jeux,
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.