USU Symphony Orchestra Performs Brahms, Corigliano and More
The Utah State University Symphony Orchestra presents Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto featuring Jessica Roderer, winner of the third USU Alumni Concerto Competition. The Brahms work is the centerpiece of the evening.
The concert is Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Kent Concert Hall in the Chase Fine Arts Center on USU’s Logan campus.
“The Brahms ‘Second Piano Concerto’ is one of the most remarkable and challenging works of the solo repertoire,” said Sergio Bernal, conductor and music director of USU’s Symphony Orchestra. “It is a grand masterpiece, not only because of its huge proportions but also due to its depth of expression that pulls the music in many directions — from the pastoral to the dramatic, from the sublime to the playful. I am very glad to have the opportunity of exploring this wonderful composition with Ms. Roderer, a solid player with a poetic gift.”
Described as “wonderfully nuanced” and “rich in emotion and dramatic passion” by the Deseret News, pianist and collaborative artist Jessica Roderer is a performer who is known for her artistic maturity. She has been invited to perform in private concert settings across the nation and has been a sought-after accompanist and coach by many prestigious studios in Los Angeles, Utah, Ohio, New York and Virginia. She holds a bachelor’s of music in piano performance from Utah State University under the tutelage of Gary Amano and earned her master’s of music and doctorate of musical arts in piano performance with a minor in collaborative arts from the University of Southern California where she studied with Norman Krieger.
“The other two pieces on the program, the ‘Elegy’ by American composer John Corigliano and ‘Dances of Galanta’ by Zoltán Kodály, relate to the Brahms Piano Concerto in their own way,” Bernal said. “The ‘Elegy’ uses incidental music that Corigliano had written for the off-Broadway production of Wallace Frey’s Helen — an account of the aging Helen of Troy — and shares with the Brahms a sense of autumnal somberness. On the other hand, the ‘Dances of Galanta’ by the Hungarian Kodály are filled with gypsy soaring melodies and lively rhythms similar to those that fascinated Brahms decades before and that appear in some of his works, most notably his famous Hungarian Dances.”
Bernal promises listeners a memorable evening.
“In this concert audiences will hear the USU Symphony Orchestra playing at its best and will enjoy the artistry of Jessica Roderer in a program brimming with colorful dances and tinted with thoughtful emotion.”
Tickets for the Nov. 20 USU Symphony Orchestra concert are available at the CCA Box Office in Room L101 of the Chase Fine Arts Center, call 435-797-8022 or see the Caine College’s Production Services website. Adult tickets (ages 18+) are $10, seniors (ages 60+) $8, youth (ages 8-17) $8, USU faculty/staff $5 and USU students with current ID free.
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Contact: Denise Albiston, 435-797-1500, denise.albiston@usu.edu
Writer: Whitney Schulte, 435-797-9203
USU's Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Sergio Bernal, presents the Brahms "Second Piano Concerto" featuring Jessica Roderer. The Brahms work is the centerpiece of the Nov. 20 concert.
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