My last mention of the Queens College Orchestra was back during my first semester here.  It was then led by Maestro Maurice Peress, but because of his sabbatical, is now being led by various guest conductors.  The repertoire from tonight’s concert, conducted by JoAnn Falletta is also being performed tomorrow, conducted by Tong Chen and Alex Yu.

June 2011 … Edward Smaldone

Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra … Ned Rorem
Preamble and Amble
Love Letter
Recurring Dream
Perpetual Motion
Medley and Prayer

Scheherazade … Rimsky-Korsakoff
The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship.
The Kalendar Prince.
The Young Prince and The Young Princess.
Festival at Baghdad.  The Sea.  The Ship breaks against a cliff.

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After a full day of volunteering – handing out stickers and making arts and crafts – at the Museum of Natural History for WNET’s PBS show Sid the Science Kid, I went with my parents to a concert at The Church of St. Ignatius of Antioch in the Upper West Side.  The concert was titled “La Flor de España,” featuring the choral group Polyhymnia, a group that sings early choral music.  There was also an organist, Sarah Davies, who played several “interesting” pieces.  Not only were the composers featured in this concert of Spanish origin – like me – but they were from one of my favorite musical time periods – 13th to 16th century! Continue Reading »

And here’s the second opera I went to this past weekend: L’Incoronazione di Poppea! Before starting with a summary, describing the set, or raving about the music and talent, I want to give the photography credit to Sean Moonsammy – a student at the Aaron Copland School of Music as well as one of the leads (Ottone) in the Thursday and Saturday performances of the opera. Continue Reading »