 | | | Pacific Chamber Orchestra concertmaster Igor Veligan Photo provided | | | | | | Pacific Chamber Orchestra's upcoming concert "Golden Strings," under the direction of Maestro Lawrence Kohl, will feature Mendelssohn's very first exuberant Symphony for Strings, Samuel Barber's heartfelt Adagio for Strings, Elgar's enchanting Serenade for Strings, and Richard Strauss' lyrical Symphony for Strings Op. 2.
"From the 12-year-old Mendelssohn's very first exuberant Symphony for Strings to Samuel Barber's heartfelt Adagio for Strings; from to Elgar's enchanting Serenade for Strings to Richard Strauss' lyrical Symphony for Strings Op. 2, these works demonstrate a deep vibrancy, emotional range and incredible craftsmanship of young composers stretching beyond their teachings, discovering pure shimmering gold for us to all enjoy and profit from," says Kohl.
"It is great from time to time to focus on different sections of the orchestra. A program such as this for string orchestra enables us to further hone the unique personality of the PCO string sound in what is essentially a large string quartet, adding richness, intimacy and flexibility," Kohl adds. "Key to that sound is of course the concertmaster. Igor Veligan is a fine leader and makes it easy for the strings to blend with him. He understands what my gestures mean and has the same drive to get at the deepest human meaning of the music to give to the audience."
Veligan has been on the Conservatory of Music faculty at the University of the Pacific since 2006 and has been teaching at American River College since 2004. He holds a Master of Arts in violin performance and chamber music from Odessa State Conservatory. Veligan founded the Odessa Conservatory String Quartet, which performed extensively in Ukraine and toured in Freiburg, Germany, Tokyo, and Niigata, Japan; and is an artist faculty member of the Orfeo International Music Festival (Italy).
"It is fun to be the concertmaster of such a fine group of musicians. I like the variety that PCO has for full orchestra and that they can also do smaller works. This is a wonderful program for the audience to enjoy and for the musicians to play," says Veligan, who currently serves as concertmaster of the San Francisco Choral Society Orchestra and Pacific Chamber Orchestra.
Veligan has been also been a guest concertmaster of the Sacramento Philharmonic and principal violist with the Reno Philharmonic. In 2013 Veligan along with pianist Natsuki Fukasawa released a CD titled "Voices of Eastern Europe" featuring violin and piano sonatas by Enescu, Skoryk and Babadjanian. Veligan is a founder and violin/viola teacher at the Young Talents Music School in Sacramento. Many of his students are winners of numerous local and state competitions.
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17 in the Community Hall of the Lafayette Library and Learning Center, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 18 in the Bankhead Theater in Livermore. Tickets are $10 to $59 and are available at www.PacificChamberOrchestra.org and additionally for Livermore at the Bankhead Box Office or online at bankheadtheater.org.
The concluding performance of PCO's season is The American Radio Hour, featuring Copland's Appalachian Spring and a premier work by Grammy Award-winning violinist Mads Tolling, April 21 in Lafayette and April 22 in Livermore.
- J. Wake
|
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA