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Irina Moreland to Perform With Denver Phil.

Contributed by: Robin McNeil on 12/16/2007

On Friday, December 21st, the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra, now 60 years old, will perform its annual Christmas Concert at the KPOF Hall located at 1340 Sherman Street in Denver. Conducted by Dr. Horst Buchholz, the performance will include the Christmas Overture by the Russian composer Otto Nicolai, traditional Christmas music, and, as a special treat, a performance of Rachmaninoff's Variations on a Theme by Paganini for piano and orchestra. The soloist will be Russian born pianist, Dr. Irina Moreland.

Dr. Moreland has earned two doctorates in piano performance; one from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia and one from CU in Boulder. Irina attended the St. Petersburg Specialized College of Music for Gifted Children (1978-1985). In the following years she earned her Master of Musical Arts with Honorary Diploma from the world famous St. Petersburg State Conservatory (1986-1991), studying with Natan Perelman, Anatol Ugorski and Gregory Sokolov. Her Doctor of Musical Arts from St. Petersburg State Conservatory followed in 1992-95, as well as post graduate studies with M.Voskresensky, A. Skavronsky and M. Pletnev of Moscow State Conservatory (1994-1995).

As a soloist, she has successfully appeared in Russia, Ukraine, Canada, England, Ireland, Austria, France and United States in numerous solo, chamber and orchestral recitals. The New York press has often praised her performances. "Moreland has a palette of musical expression in her playing, allowing her to tackle the greatest works for piano with ease... .her performance is brilliant, fascinating to watch and hear her exquisite pianism...." She also performed as a soloist with Lakewood Symphony performing the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto and the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra performing the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini by Rachmaninoff.

In 1994 she participated in Rudolf Buchbinder's outstanding Internationale Meisterkurse Fur Klavierin Zurich. In 1996 she began her course of studies in America, entering the College of Music, University of Colorado at Boulder, where she studied with such notable musicians as Angela Cheng, Alvin Chow, Robert Spillman, Larry Graham and David Korevaar. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts in May 2002.

In academia, Irina has held the positions of Assistant Professor of Piano at St. Petersburg State Conservatory; Adjunct Professor for the Colorado School of Mines Choral Department; Graduate Assistant and Accompanist at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Currently, she is teaching as an Affiliate Professor at Colorado Christian University and the University of Colorado at Denver.

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), as everyone is surely aware, was probably the finest pianist since Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann. Why? Because he was a musician first and a pianist second. He possessed a rhythmic clarity and energy that only very few pianists have matched, and he understood the architecture of a piece, no matter who the composer of it was. He studied every piece that he performed with the analytical eye of a composer, and he was one pianist, aside from Sviatislav Richter and John Browning, who could play any composer successfully. And, of course, he possessed a technique and strength that far outclassed any of his rivals. His hands were huge - Rachmaninoff stood at six feet, five inches - and he could reach three notes shy of two octaves.

Rachmaninoff, for this set of variations, used Niccolo Paganini's 24th Caprice in A minor for a set of twenty-four variations which he cast in a remarkable four-movements-in-one composition. The first eleven variations form the first movement which is fast, variations twelve through fifteen form a minuet, variations sixteen through eighteen are the slow movement, and variations nineteen through twenty-four are the final fast movement. There will likely be no one in the audience who will not recognize Variation 18, as it has been used in several Hollywood films. It is the epitome of Rachmaninoff's melodic skill, but most do not realize that it is Paganini's theme turned upside down. This is a technique that one would ascribe more to Rachmaninoff's great contemporary composer, Arnold Schoenberg. But you must understand that this is an unusual piece, because Rachmaninoff places the first variation before the entrance of the theme. In addition, this is one of several compositions in which Rachmaninoff quotes the Dies Irae theme from the medieval Requiem Mass. Rachmaninoff began this work while he was staying at his villa in Switzerland on the shore of Lake Lucerne in 1934. He performed the premiere the same year with Leopold Stokowski conducting.

Otto Nicolai, famous for his opera, The Merry Wives of Windsor, was born in 1810, and died at an early age of a stroke in 1849. He was raised by an abusive father who tried to take advantage of his precocious son, and Otto finally succeeded in running away from home at age sixteen. Educated largely in Berlin with Zelter, he traveled to Italy where he developed a strong interest in opera. Throughout his life his strong and unbending self-criticism and high performance standards may have hindered his compositional output. Nonetheless, several of his works were published and performed while he was in his early twenties. He achieved much recognition in Vienna and Germany, and he became famous as the founder of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In the year before his death, he achieved the position of Director of the Berlin Cathedral Choir and Kapellmeister of the Berlin Opera.

The Christmas Overture by Nicolai is a short, seasonal favorite that will remind the listener of Brahms. It is based on the Luther hymn, Von Himmel hoch, da komm ich her - "From Heaven above, to earth I come." For such a short work, this overture is really quite substantial, and fits well with the Rachmaninoff.

The Denver Philharmonic Orchestra will also perform several Christmas favorites on this program. Tickets for this concert are on sale at the door which opens at 6:30 PM Friday evening. Ticket prices are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, $8 for students with ID, and children under 12 years of age are admitted free. The Denver Philharmonic Orchestra web site is www.denverphilharmonic.org. or you may call 303-420-2919 to purchase tickets.











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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Robin McNeil

Littleton , CO

Robin McNeil has posted 698 stories and 0 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Robin McNeil 's average story rating is 5.
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