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Principal players from the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra's last four decades will return to help celebrate the orchestra's 75th anniversary season Saturday.
That will start on the conductor's podium, where Alfred Savia, in his 21st season as the philharmonic's music director, will welcome back Stewart Kershaw, the British conductor who led the orchestra during a major rebuilding period from 1980 into 1989.
Kershaw, who recently retired as conductor for the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle after a 25-year tenure, will lead the orchestra in Frederick Delius' "On Hearing the First Cuckoo of Spring," and later, for the "Autumn" portion of Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons."
Four former concertmasters will alternate in the first violinist's chair, each leading the strings in one part of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" before sharing center stage in a virtuosic performance of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's bow-burning "Flight of the Bumblebee." John Macfarlane, who served as the orchestra's concertmaster from 2003 into 2007 before joining the Lyric Opera Orchestra in Chicago, will perform in the "Spring" section.
Michael Jinsoo Lim, the philharmonic's concertmaster from 1995 into 2000, will take the "Summer" section. Like Kershaw, Lim also will be coming from Seattle and the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, where he is concertmaster.
Delmar Pettys will come from Dallas to lead the strings in the "Autumn" section of Vivaldi's "Seasons." Pettys, who served as the Evansville Philharmonic's concertmaster from 1977 to 1986, recently retired from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and became concertmaster for the Dallas Opera.
And Brennan Sweet, the orchestra's first-chair violinist from 1989 into 1994, will lead the "Winter" section, playing on the 1713 Stradivarius violin given him for use as associate concertmaster for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
The concertmasters' reunion will mark the first time the orchestra has played all four of Vivaldi's "Seasons," said Savia.
Gared Crawford, the orchestra's current concertmaster, will lead the strings in the rest of the concert, playing a featured part in Antonin Dvorak's "Romance for Violin and Orchestra."
Zoltan Kodaly's "Galanta Dances" will lead into the finale, as all four returning violinists take one another on in a classical bow-off, taking turns scorching the strings in "Flight of the Bumblebee."
Before Saturday's performance, Kershaw will join Savia in a Concert Conversation to reminisce and reflect on the orchestra's past at 6:45 p.m. in The Victory.
IF YOU GO
What: Former music director Stewart Kershaw and former concertmasters John Macfarlane, Michael Jinsoo Lim, Delmar Pettys and Brennans Sweet will join the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra as guest performers for a concert celebrating the orchestra's 75th anniversary season.
When: Box office opens 5:30 p.m. Pre-concert talk begins at 6:45 p.m., performance at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Where: The Victory
Tickets: $15 to $61 for adults, $5 to $61 for children 12 and younger, $10.50 at the door for students after 6:30 p.m.
Information: Call 425-5050 for reservations or information or go to www.evansvillephilharmonic.org online.
Broadcast: A digital recording of the concert will air at 7 p.m., Feb. 7, on WNIN 88.3FM
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/jan/21/kershaw-to-help-orchestra-celebrate-75-years/
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