The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, presents the sixth and final concert in the 2014-2015 Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series: Mozart, Prokofiev and Strauss.

Piano virtuoso Yeol Eum Son takes the stage for the final Masterworks concert of the season, performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. The program also features Mozart’s grand “Jupiter” Symphony, and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier Suite.  The Masterworks Series is sponsored by the Stella Boyle Smith Trust.

The concert takes place Saturday, April 11, 2015 at 7:30 p.m., & Sunday, April 12, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. at the Maumelle Performing Arts Center, 100 Victory Lane, Maumelle.

Concert Conversations: All concert ticket holders are invited to a pre-concert lecture an hour before each Masterworks concert.  These talks feature insights from the Maestro and guest artists, and feature musical examples to enrich the concert experience.

Tickets are $19, $35, $49, and $58; active duty military and student tickets are $10 are can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the Maumelle Performing Arts Center box office beginning 90 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 100. All Arkansas students grades K-12 are admitted to Sunday’s matinee free of charge with the purchase of an adult ticket using the Entergy Kids’ Ticket, downloadable at the ASO website.

Yeol Eum Son, piano
Philip Mann, conductor

PROGRAM:
MOZART: Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551 “Jupiter”
PROKOFIEV: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26
STRAUSS: Der Rosenkavelier, Op. 59 Suite

PROGRAM NOTES:
Jupiter is the last, grandest and most joyous of all of Mozart’s symphonies. Speaking on the fact that there is no evidence of a commission to inspire the final three symphonies, scholar Neal Zaslaw commented: “The very idea that Mozart would have written three such symphonies, unprecedented in length, complexity, and seriousness, merely to please himself or because he was ‘inspired,’ flies in the face of his known attitudes to music and life and the financial straits in which he then found himself.”

Prokofiev composed Piano Concerto No. 3 after studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. It emphasis on virtuosity and sharpness of humor with the earlier concertos, but it also contains a strong helping of mature warmth, making it easier to approach and enjoy.

Excerpts from the Der Rosenkavalier have been featured in concert virtually since the opera’s creation, although Strauss did not prepare many of them himself. This popular concert suite appeared in 1945, without crediting an arranger. It presents an enchanting medley of the opera’s most glorious moments, including the surging Prelude; the presentation of the silver rose; a luscious love duet between Sophie and Octavian; a teasing, languorous waltz associated with the lecherous Baron Ochs; the ecstatic final trio and duet; and another, quicker waltz to finish.

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 49th season in 2014-2015, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and performs more than sixty concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series, Landers FIAT River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series, and numerous concerts performed around the state of Arkansas, in addition to serving central Arkansas through numerous community outreach programs and bringing live symphonic music education to over 26,000 school children and over 200 schools.