Oakland East Bay Symphony Presents 'Stops on the Orient Express' March 16, 2012

Oakland East Bay Symphony presents "Stops on the Orient Express," a concert featuring music by Rorem, Schubert and Brahms, on Friday, March 16, at 8 pm at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. Led by Music Director Michael Morgan, the Symphony will be joined by the Oakland Symphony Chorus on Rorem's "Letters from Paris." Andrew Sords, a rising star in the world of classical violin, will also lend his talents, taking part in Brahms' richly harmonic Violin Concerto. Schubert's Overture in C Major, written in the Italian style, will open the concert. An informative pre-concert talk by John Kendall Bailey begins at 7 pm.

"Stops on the Orient Express" provides a musical journey through Western Europe, with French, German and Italian styles all on display. Ned Rorem, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer named "the world's best composer of art songs" by Time Magazine, gives insight into the whimsical French spirit he experienced during his ten years living in Paris. Much like Rorem, Schubert adopts a musical style he admired by writing in the Italian style for his Overture in C Major. Brahms, unlike the other composers, does not adopt a new style in his Violin Concerto. Instead, writing for his Hungarian friend, the famed violinist Joseph Joachim, Brahms builds upon the best of 19th century German composition in his work to create what is widely considered to be one of the greatest concertos of all times. "Stops on the Orient Express" celebrates the music across Western Europe as well as the enthusiasm of the composers for their chosen musical styles.

Official Website: http://www.oebs.org