Our Appreciation to Brent Gilstrap for MSO photos |
The MSO will celebrate Mariposa's concurrent Butterfly Festival with our annual 'Welcome Spring!' Concert, presented in Mariposa on Saturday, May 3 at 7:00PM in the Fiester Auditorium of Mariposa County High School. The concert will repeat the following day - Sunday, May 4 as a 2:30 matinee in Merced at Golden Valley High School Auditorium. |
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Subtitled the “Pastoral” symphony for its five movements depicting bucolic scenes of country life in a rural Germany not at all unlike our own Mariposa, Beethoven’s Sixth is unusual for containing five movements instead of the then-customary four, but Beethoven was, of course, a revolutionary in all things. The movements in this wholly-programmatic musical work offer 1) Awakening of Cheerful Feelings upon Arrival in the Country, 2) Scene by the Brook, 3) Merry Gathering of Country Folk, 4) Thunderstorm, and 5) Shepherd’s Song: Happy and Thankful Feelings after the Storm. While such rustic tone-impression through music wasn’t unheard of (think only of Vivaldi’s very similar choices of country life depicted in his decades-earlier “The Four Seasons” performed by the MSO a few seasons back) Beethoven certainly elevated and in some ways legitimized such a musical approach. But beyond that, this is absolutely gorgeous music, exciting music (one of the best musical thunderstorms ever composed!) relaxing music, inspiring music – and all of it is immediately recognizable. Bit and pieces (if not entire movements) have shown up in films from “Fantasia” to (very memorably) the sci-fi shocker “Soylent Green.” I want you - our audiences - to truly appreciate the great universality of superb music which communicates across the centuries and continents. Though written in 1808 (and so we'll also celebrate its bicentennial) in Germany, I want you to sit back and imagine this music depicting those scenes of country life in Mariposa. Beethoven himself wrote he wanted this music to be ‘more an expression of feeling than painting in sound’ but he really nailed the very sounds of nature, joyous celebration and the delights of country life. Universal application; the music itself truly feels as if Beethoven had visited Mariposa County!
Also on the program is the so-called “Boccherini Cello Concerto in Bb.” The great Italian composer Luigi Boccherini (1743 – 1805) did compose 12 concerti for cello and orchestra, but this isn’t one of them! In 1895, the German cellist Friedrich Grützmacher took Boccherini’s ninth cello concerto and radically rewrote it: tossing out movements, elaborating or editing and eventually ‘borrowing’ bits and pieces of Boccherini’s first, third and eighth cello concerti, the result has become Boccherini’s best-loved cello concerto! Rather than the Classical-era sound, this ‘hybrid’ concerto was re-invented by Grützmacher as a Romantic Period showpiece which pays homage to the work’s gallant-style roots quite nicely. I'm delighted to offer our own Michael McLane as soloist in this very demanding concerto. Mike played in the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra for a decade but we go back much further to our days of playing together as students in the Fresno Junior Philharmonic in the early 1970’s. I was pleased to have Mike (now of Merced) join the MSO as a cellist a few years ago. But I’m really excited to show off his wonderful talent and technique in this great showpiece for his instrument. Our audiences have a huge treat in store!
Opening the concert will be one of my favorite curtain raisers: the overture to the opera “Zampa” by the French composer Louis-Ferdinand Hérold (1791 - 1833.) Best-known – or perhaps only-known today for this rousing piece, Hérold in his day was a fairly successful composer of a lengthy string of operas, of which “Zampa” was probably the best. Like so many artists of his day, Hérold died young (in his case, of tuberculosis,) just short of his 42nd birthday. Still occasionally performed today, the opera “Zampa” opens with this bouncy, thrilling overture which is a great potpourri of the opera’s terrific tunes. The overture alternates between sections of ebullient orchestral impatience and quieter, reflective reveries with some of the opera’s more placid tunes given to the clarinet. But the full orchestra just can’t stay quiet – and eventually always returns with joyous, toe-tapping ‘thrill’ music to the very end.
Tickets for your Mariposa Symphony Orchestra’s Saturday, May 3rd "Welcome Spring!" Concert (7:00PM in the Fiester Auditorium) are now on sale at the Mariposa County Arts Council, Inc: (209) 966-3155 - located at 5009 Fifth Street (adjacent to The Pizza Factory) in beautiful downtown historic Mariposa. Tickets are also available at the Mariposa County Visitors Center at the north end of the town of Mariposa across from the Miners Inn; call the Visitors Center at (209) 966-7081 for hours.
Tickets for the Sunday, May 4th Merced Matinee performance (2:30PM in the Golden Valley High School Auditorium) are available only from the Mariposa County Arts Council (contact info above.) Prices for either concert are the usual (and generously affordable) $6 for adults and $4 for students.
Do you have friends coming to town for the May 2 - 4 Butterfly Festival? Well, now you have someplace to take them on a Saturday night in Mariposa! Great Music and Mariposa? Our orchestra's motto puts it the best:
Music and Mariposa? Ahhhhh, Paradise!!!
Merced Musician Michael McLane is truly a multipli-remarkable performer. Mike and I go back well over 35 years - to our days of playing together as teens in the Fresno Junior Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestro Guy Taylor. Mike, a native of Fresno like myself, began private piano lessons at the age of seven. At age 10, he began playing cornet in the Gunderson School Band. By age 14, he began playing tuba as well and continued playing through his senior year at Hoover High School. In his junior year at Hoover High School he also began playing the double bass. As a senior at Hoover, he earned the Congress of Strings Award - and participated in the program held at USC. This was a nation wide workshop for outstanding young string players and was supported by the Musicians Union. Mike earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from CSUF on the double bass. He taught band for the Muroc School district in 1982-83. His passion for stringed instruments was whetted as he continued to expand his proficiency beyond the bass to the entire string family.
In 1983 he moved to Merced, where he lives to this day. He began teaching strings for the Merced City School District. Simultaneously, he began studying violin with Dr. David Margetts at CSUF. He taught classroom recorder at Merced City Schools for 4 years.
It was his dream to seriously study the cello. He studied with Ira Lehn at the University of the Pacific and in 2004 he began the master's program at CSUF with emphasis in cello performance. He completed the master's program with studies under Dr. Dieter Wulfhorst in May of 2006 and presented a well-received and richly eclectic recital, receiving his Master's degree in the process. He has since studied with Dr. Thomas Loewenheim, currently Professor of Cello CSUF. In recent years, he has played double bass with the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tulare County Symphony Orchestra. In the summer of 2006 Michael McLane presented several recitals in Brazil and more recently (in March of 2008) he performed solo recitals in Perugia and Rome, Italy.
But for me, perhaps: Mike precipitated one of the most happy events of the recent history of the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra. Back in March of 2004 during our second season, the orchestra was performing two very major works: Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Dvorak's 8th Symphony. Though Mike and I had spoken on the phone briefly (our first contact in 30 years!) imagine my absolute delight when he showed up - out of the blue - about a half-hour before the first of the two concerts in Mariposa with double bass, wondering if I could use him that evening! Of course I could! I was thrilled to see him after all those years and though he hadn't been able to attend rehearsals, he knew both works extremely well and his performance with the orchestra that evening (as well as the following day when we performed again in Oakhurst) was brilliant. Never one to turn down good fortune, I was fortunately able to persuade Mike into joining the MSO on cello and the rest has become a very happy ending, indeed!
Marden asked Mike not long ago if he'd like to be showcased by performing a concerto with the MSO and we decided on the Boccherini Bb. It's a very demanding and virtuosic workout for the soloist and we of the MSO are indeed honored and delighted to be able to present this masterpiece to our audiences in Mariposa and Merced in collaborative performance with such a truly gifted artist. And as well: friend of 35 years.
Mariposa Symphony Orchestra GuildAnd don't forget: the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra Guild now offers a free concert preview two weeks before our regular concerts. Maestro Marsden will discuss and play excerpts from the music for the upcoming concert and also be happy to answer your questions. For further information about the MSO Guild or Concert Previews, please contact Mariposa Symphony Orchestra Guild President Marilyn Saunders at (209) 742-5134 or via email mwsaunders@earthlink.net. |
Conductor
Les Marsden – a peek beyond the wand
As Actor - In a lengthy career as a Los Angeles- and Manhattan-based actor which was ended only by accident-caused disability, he starred on stage in well over 3,000 performances in theatres across the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom including London's West End and Scotland's Edinburgh Festival. Roles ran the gamut from the classics to musical comedy and include Lopakhin in Chekov's The Cherry Orchard, Peter Poll in James Kirkwood's final play Stage Stuck to Touchstone in Shakespeare's As You Like It and even as all the Marx Brothers in various Marx revivals and original works. Other favorite roles included Max Prince in Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Ali Hakim in Oklahoma! (five separate productions,) Jimmy Deegan in the celebrated (and first-ever) revival of Cole Porter's 1930 The New Yorkers in Manhattan's historic Town Hall and countless others. Nominated for the world's most prestigious acting honor, Great Britain's Laurence Olivier Award (for Comedy Performance of the Year) and many more citations including the London Critics' Award, the Carbonell, Scotland's Fringe First Award, etc. Veteran of innumerable TV commercials seen nationally and internationally and TV series such as General Hospital, Mel Brooks' The Nutt House, the Bob Newhart Show and Al Franken's Lateline. Appeared in films from Robert Redford's Quiz Show to The Siege with Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington and Annette Bening. Has worked with or directed Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave, Jeremy Irons, Burt Reynolds, Harvey Korman, Charles Nelson Reilly, Matthew Broderick and many more. As Playwright - His A Night at Harpo's is the only biographic show ever allowed by Harpo's widow and children and was written with their full cooperation. Mr. Marsden performed his award-winning one-man show extensively around the world; likewise his interpretations of Groucho, Harpo and Chico Marx in various productions was endorsed by the elderly Groucho Marx himself. Union affiliations: Actors' Equity, the Screen Actors' Guild, AFTRA, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, etc.
As Musician - classically trained on many instruments including piano (and all keyboards,) trumpet (and most all brass,) concert grand harp and others. Composed/conducted many symphonic and chamber works from early teens beginning with his Symphony #1 at age 13; most recently premiered his Mariposa Festival Overture at the inaugural concert of the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra, which he founded in 2002 and serves as Music Director and Conductor. Has also composed lighter works including the score and lyrics for the successful musical comedy The Telethon Fool. Member of the Conductor's Guild.