The Sault Symphony Orchestra is presenting Time Travels, the third concert of its current season at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 2 at The Machine Shop.
“We're playing some of the most incredible music we have, including a Dvorak symphony,” said Stephen Mallinger, Sault Symphony Orchestra artistic director and conductor, in an interview with SooToday.
The show begins with King Arthur and Merlin by modern-day composer John Estacio.
“John's from southern Ontario originally but he lives in Edmonton now. About 10 years ago the Cincinnati Ballet commissioned him to write music for an opera on King Arthur and Merlin and what we're playing is the overture, the first few minutes of that opera, to set the whole concert up.
"It's really exciting music. It's a lot of fun to listen to,” Mallinger said.
From there the program goes to Prelude to ‘49th Parallel’ by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), Norwegian Dance by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) and Sinfonia Concertante KV 364 for Violin and Viola by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91).
After intermission, the second half of the concert is devoted to Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95 (From the New World) by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904).
Mallinger said the concert is entitled Time Travels because the program showcases pieces by composers from the 18th century to the present day.
“Prelude to ‘49th Parallel’ was written by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1941. It’s a film score. It's the overture from the film of the same name,” Mallinger said.
49th Parallel is a fictional Second World War film.
“Interestingly enough it’s about a German U-boat that sank a Canadian ship in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and then it escapes into Hudson Bay. And then the chase is on,” Mallinger said.
Prelude to ‘49th Parallel’ is followed by Norwegian Dance by Edvard Grieg, a piece that showcases the talents of the SSO’s woodwind and horn section.
Sinfonia Concertante KV 364 for Violin and Viola by Mozart is highlighted by the orchestra’s Erica Mancuso on violin and Anya Mallinger on viola.
“This is a great piece of music,” Mallinger said.
The piece is 35 minutes in duration.
“It’s a double concerto for violin and viola. It's probably the only double concerto for violin and viola out there. It’s kind of a combination of a symphony and a concerto. It's quite involved if you're playing the violin and viola. It's an enormous job to learn it and Erica and Anya have done really well with it.
"It sounds so good when they play together,” Mallinger said.
The SSO conductor said classical music lovers will also enjoy the second half of the concert devoted to Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Opus 95 (From the New World) by Dvorak.
“He was one of the really great symphonic composers of the late 1800s and he came to the U.S. in 1892 to be the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City.
"He wrote this piece, apparently based on songs he heard when he was in the U.S., but it really does have a European feel to it," he said.
"It’s kind of a combination piece of the Old World and the New World and that's why he called it a Symphony from the New World. Everybody who knows about symphonic music will recognize his music and people that don't are going to instantly take to it,” Mallinger said.
Prior to the March 2 Time Travels concert, the SSO will be performing Mini Maestros - designed for children to enjoy and to introduce them to orchestral music in a more informal environment - at 3 p.m. Saturday March 1 at the St. Basil Catholic Elementary School gym, located at 250 St. Georges Ave. E.
Admission to Mini Maestros is free.
Mallinger is encouraging Saultites to get out of the cold and enjoy some classical music by purchasing tickets for the March 2 presentation of Time Travels at The Machine Shop.
“It's been a long winter. Get out of winter for an afternoon and come hear this symphony,” Mallinger said with a chuckle.
Tickets for Time Travels are available for purchase through the Sault Symphony Orchestra website.