Sinfonia's 2023-24 season
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Come join us for an exciting family friendly program that features both Allentown Mayor Matthew Tuerk and our own concertmaster, Simon Maurer, violin soloist. Mayor Tuerk will tell the iconic story of Peter and the Wolf in Spanish with English subtitles as narrator for Pedro y el Lobo (Peter and the Wolf) and our own Simon Maurer will perform Astor Piazzolla’s colorful and virtuosic Estaciones Porteñas (Four Seasons of Buenos Aires). Free Admission for students!
Los invitamos muy cordialmente para el excelente é inédito programa para toda la familia, presentando por primera vez juntos Mayor Matthew Tuerk y nuestro Concertino Simon Maurer como violin solista. Mayor Tuerk nos hará el gran honor de narrar en español la encantadora historia "Pedro y El Lobo" con subtítulos. Maestro Maurer interpretará la virtuosa y colorida obra del compositor Argentino Astor Piazzolla "Las Estaciones Porteñas". Entrada libre para todos los estudiantes. Click Here for Simon Maurer's Bio. Click Here for Mayor Matt Tuerk's Bio. |
Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023 - 7:30 p.m.
Christ Lutheran Church 1245 W. Hamilton Street, Allentown, PA 18102 The Winds of the Sinfonia "No Strings Attached" Richard Strauss- Serenade for 13 winds W.A. Mozart- Selected movements from Gran Partita Paul Dukas- Fanfare pour précéder La Péri Giovanni Gabrieli Canzon Duodecimi Toni- Sacred Symphony For Ten-part Double Brass Choir Felix Mendelssohn- Overture for Winds in C Major, Opus 24 |
Our extraordinary Sinfonia wind/brass/percussion sections take to the stage in this program featuring composers from the 16th-20th centuries. Come and savor the lyrical and luscious harmonies of Strauss and Mozart and be swept away by some of the enduring and rhapsodic masterpieces for brass choir by Dukas, Frescobaldi and Gabrieli. The program concludes with Mendelssohn’s Overture for Winds for 23 winds and Janissary percussion, a revised version of his Nocturno for 11 winds.
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Sunday, February 4 - 3:00 p.m.
Wesley Church 2540 Center Street (Route 512), Bethlehem, PA 18017 Pennsylvania Sinfonia "Winter Vivaldi" Father Sean Duggan, piano Stephani Bell, violin Christine Moulton, flute Simon Maurer, violin Susan Shaw, bassoon delightful chamber music including Vivaldi- "Winter" from the Four Seasons Vivaldi- "La Notte" Bassoon Concerto in B flat major, RV 501 J.S. Bach- Concerto for Flute, Violin and Piano in A minor, BWV 1044 |
Chamber ensemble performance by principal musicians of the Sinfonia
and guest soloist Father Seán Duggan, piano Sinfonia concert-goers wait all year for this signature program: a crisp February day, a seasoned ensemble of musicians and friends, the incomparable pianist Father Seán Duggan, and the unbridled ebullience of J. S. Bach as well as other esteemed composers. This year’s Winter Vivaldi program includes pieces featuring piano, flute and violin, bassoon, and the well-loved and seasonally appropriate "Winter" from Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons, rounding out the performances of all four seasons begun during the Valley Vivaldi concerts in summer 2023. |
Saturday, March 2 - 7:30 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church 3231 W. Tilghman Street, Allentown, PA 18104 Pennsylvania Sinfonia "Celebration of Women's History Month with Christine Moulton Flautist" Christine Moulton, flute Fanny Mendelssohn- Hensel Overture in C Major Cécile Chaminade- Concertino, opus 107 for Flute Louise Farrenc- Symphony #3 in G minor, opus 36 |
As part of Women’s History Month, the Sinfonia are excited to recognize and champion the lesser-known works of women composers whose careers faced gender inequality. Opening the concert will be Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s only work for orchestra alone, which “combines thematic coherence with a wide range of color and expression”. Despite remaining unpublished, the Overture has continued to be well received by contemporary audiences around the world. Louise Farrenc was admired by her contemporaries, Schumann and Berlioz, and was a noted scholar, composer and teacher at the Paris Conservatory. Influenced by Mozart, Schumann and Chopin, her Symphony #3 in g minor is uniquely crafted in her own voice and is an energetic and satisfying work that you are sure to enjoy. The Sinfonia is also proud to feature our principal flutist, Christine Moulton, in Cecile Chaminade’s effervescent Concertino for flute and orchestra.
“Christine Moulton gave the flute line [from Richard Alden Clark’s Four Sketches] a shapely, colorful reading…”- Allan Kozinn, NY Times Click Here for Christine Moulton's Bio. |
Saturday, April 20 - 7:30 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church 3231 W. Tilghman Street, Allentown, PA 18104 Pennsylvania Sinfonia "Myths, Love & Legends" Mary Bonhag, soprano Mendelssohn- Die schone Melusine (The Fair Melusine), opus 32 Romantic Arias with Mary Bonhag, soprano, including: Mozart- "Ruhe Sanft" from Zaide & "L'Amero saro costante" from Il Re Pastore Dvořák- Legends, Op. 59, B. 117 |
Mary Bonhag, soprano, has performed throughout the world and thrills audiences with her “marvelous versatility” and “supple, expressive” voice (San Antonio News). Known for her deeply personal interpretation, Mary’s debut with the Sinfonia offers several passionate arias that will showcase her expressive style and personal understanding of these works. The program begins with the concert overture by Felix Mendelssohn, which was a birthday gift to his sister Fanny and will conclude with the Dvorak’s Legends, a work that was originally scored for piano duet and is undeserved in its relative obscurity. While Legends is clearly not a programmatic work, the composition paints a mood evoking a sense of “heroism, folksiness, adventure and warmth” that Dvorak is well known for.
Click Here for Mary Bonhag's Bio. |
Past Concerts
Photo Credit: Dr. Mark Gittleman
