Maricopa Music Circle to perform spring concert of classics Saturday

The most impressive concert yet by Maricopa Music Circle chamber orchestra will be performed on Saturday evening at the University of Arizona’s Maricopa Agricultural Center.[quote_box_right]IF YOU GO
Who: Maricopa Music Circle
What: Masterworks – Music for Spring
When: April 6, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Maricopa Agricultural Center, 37860 W. Smith-Enke Road
How much: $15
Info: [email protected], 520-316-6268[/quote_box_right]

Majesty, beauty, mystery – and humor – combine with limpid melody, sumptuous harmony and riveting rhythms in a program called Masterworks devoted to some of the most profound and beloved music ever written. And just about every work programmed is a first performance ever for Maricopa.

Major works anchor each half of the program. The complete overture to Cosi fan tutte ushers in a full operatic suite drawn from Mozart’s great operas in the first half, flanked by Gershwin’s Our Love is Here to Stay, a group of short works by Claude Debussy, including the gorgeous Romance, a suite of folk-songs, and Fritz Kreisler’s lovely Schön Rosmarin for violin solo and orchestra.

Part Two begins with the ethereal and very lovely The Swan by Saint-Saens, then moves on to feature Modest Mussorgsky’s towering Pictures at an Exhibition, complete. Originally composed by Mussorgsky to pay homage to the works of renowned Russian painter and architect Viktor Hartmann, Pictures paints images in sound of many subjects, all framed by a memorable Promenade melody as viewers walk through the gallery. The music evokes images of an old castle, children at play, chicks in their shells, a plodding oxcart, forbidding catacombs, a witch’s hut that walks on chicken legs and, of course, the majestic, grand Great Gate of Kiev. Readily acknowledged as one of Mussorgsky’s three greatest works, Pictures at an Exhibition marries the inspirations of the visual arts with ‘pictures in tones’ by one of music’s most beloved composers.

Now beginning its 11th season, MMC is unique because it performs standard orchestral music and popular favorites entirely without a conductor. Its instrumentation morphs regularly as new performers come on board – producing a rich, colorful and true symphonic sound – and every MMC performer from flute to bass clarinet serves as coach several times each season.

Adult tickets are $15 at the door (cash, check or card), with tickets for children under 12 at $10. Light refreshments for the audience and performers will be served as a post-concert reception, offering a perfect chance to mingle with the musicians.