Under the direction of Maestro Jooyong Ahn, the UTC Symphony Winter Concert featuring concert pianist Dr. Sin-Hsing Tsai will be held Thursday, February 7, 7:30 p.m. in Roland Hayes Concert Hall of the UTC Fine Arts Center, Vine and Palmetto Streets. Special guests from the GPS orchestra will also perform. There is no admission charge, and the event is open to the public.
Ahn is an internationally recognized musician and teacher is Director of Orchestras and Professor of Conducting at UTC. The UTC Symphony Orchestra includes auditioned UTC music and non-music majors with some exceptional area high school students. Ahn has been a VISIONS Guest Artist at GPS for several years.
Tsai, UTC professor and concert pianist, joined the UTC Music faculty in 2002. She is currently a UC Foundation Assistant Professor of Music at UTC. Raised and trained in Argentina, Germany and the US, she is recipient of the Artist Diploma from the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg, Germany, and a doctoral degree from the University of Southern California. Tsai’s performing experience extends beyond the concert hall, with broadcasts in Buenos Aires and Chattanooga, and source music for film and theater productions in Los Angeles. Tsai has performed with the GPS students and delivered to them an inspiring talk about her musical life and decisions.
Mary Baxter is music director of the GPS Orchestra. Nine of Baxter’s students from her Preparatory School Senior Orchestra spent their Winter break working with the UTC Symphony to prepare for the UTC Symphony Concert.
The performance will include the “Music of Weber and Ravel,” with Overture to “Der Freischutz” by Carl Maria von Weber. A pioneer in using the latent power of nature in Folk lore and legend, Carl Maria von Weber distilled its essence into music which casts an extraordinary atmospheric spell. Weber’s poetic masterpiece was tumultuously acclaimed, liberated opera and catapulted him to most popular composer of his day, automatically influencing later works of many including Wagner himself. With commanding knowledge of the sound capability of even the simplest of instruments, Weber employed innovative techniques introducing startling musical effects. The piece’s characteristic poetic establishment of mood will be created by Maestro Ahn and his UTC Orchestra highlighted by its signature (French) horn quartet.
Piano Concerto in G, Maurice Ravel, will also be performed. A contemporary of George Gershwin, Ravel was by nature an innovator deftly weaving jazz influences throughout his hallmark musically intricate and refined work. Made of three movements, this concerto is about atmosphere, momentum, excitement, elasticity and sensuousness, and contains some of the most exhilarating passages written for this genre.
GPS Orchestra Director Mary Baxter will conduct two pieces on the program: the melodic Ave Maria by Bach-Gounod and the lively French Canadian folk tune by GENTICORUM, Meo/Grain D’or, which was written about cats and cappuccino.
Bios photos and information can be found at www.utc.edu/music or by calling the UTC Music Department office at 423-425-4601.
