San Antonio Symphony News and Archive

Symphony opens with touch of Shakespeare




by Deborah Martin

from the San Antonio Express News 9/3/98



The San Antonio Symphony Orchestra launches its 1999-2000 season on a Shakespearean note.

Thursday's opening to the classical series begins with Ralph Vaughn Williams' "Serenade to Music," which spins off from lines from "The Merchant of Venice:"

"Here we will sit and let the
sound of music
Creep in our ears: soft stillness
and the night
Become the touches of sweet
harmony."


Next on the program will be Richard Strauss' tone poem "Don Juan," which depicts Don Juan's fruitless search for true love and eventual descent into hell. It is the piece that helped Strauss make a name for himself.

The third piece of the evening involves a distinctly different destinaton. Respighi's "The Fountains of Rome" was inspired by the sculptural masterpieces of Italy's capital.

The performance will conclude with another tip to Shakespeare. The final piece is the overture to Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy."

The musicians will be joined for much of the night by the 120 voices of the San Antonio Mastersingers, a chorus made up of volunteers from San Antonio and the surrounding area. They perform under the direction of John Silantien.

Music director Christopher Wilkins will conduct. He returns to his place in front of the symphony following a busy summer in which he served as guest conductor at the Vermont Mozart Festival, the Colorado College Conservatory and the University of Lima Orchestra (in Peru).

Next week's program is a kind of sneak peak at the performances to come in the 16-concert classical series this season.

The musicians will revisit "Romeo and Juliet" for the April 14-15 performances, when the program will spotlight Berlioz's take on the tale.

And the story of Don Juan, too, will pop up again. For the May 19-20 dates, the symphony will perform behind a staged play starring Jesse Borrego. Those concerts will premiere a new score by Robert Xavier Rodriguez.



Back to the Symphony Archives.