Spirited Away
From otherworldly and ethereal to a roaring climax
Our own Megan Karls takes center stage
ADDITIONAL TIDBITS
Felix Mendelssohn
Nocturne for Winds
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10 MINUTES
The concert opens with this delight, written at age 15 after the composer had been inspired by daily wind ensemble concerts in a popular German spa town. It’s an astonishing work for someone the age of a high school sophomore. The winds are featured–and in fact, show off–in this overture, leading into the rest of the concert where the strings are the stars of the show.
Sergei Prokofiev
Violin Concerto No. 1
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22 MINUTES
A mix of “fairy-tale naiveté with daring savagery,” the work is inventive and unpredictable in its unfolding. Even so, it was not avant garde enough for 1920s Paris. For violinist Megan Karls, the music is full of contrasts–from quirky and naughty to fierce and muscular–and always violinistically ingenious and brilliant. Finally, the music exits like a phantom, with “notes curling upward like scented smoke.”
Johannes Brahms
Haydn Variations
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19 MINUTES
Skilled master of his craft and inspired painter of heartfelt emotion, Brahms employs a different gag, skill, or compositional technique with each of the eight compact and diverse variations. Setting moods at turns melancholy, playful, wistful, and sentimental, he marries the purity and grace of Haydn with the warmth of feeling favored by the Romantics. Unlike the Prokofiev, this work ends with a grand and triumphant passacaglia–in itself a miniature set of variations–that builds to a stirring and satisfying crescendo.
Megan Karls will perform Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1
BIOGRAPHY
After a national search in 2012, Megan Karls was selected to serve as Co-Concertmaster of the Great Falls Symphony orchestra and violinist with the Cascade Quartet. She is one of nine professional musicians who are employed by the Great Falls Symphony and who live, perform, and teach music in our community.
Megan loves making her home in beautiful Montana, while also performing across the country in chamber music and orchestral engagements. Megan is also a member of the Boise Philharmonic, and has performed as Concertmaster for the Billings Symphony, Bozeman Symphony, Butte Symphony, and with the conductorless String Orchestra of the Rockies.
ALI SPOON
Why You Shouldn't Miss It
Felix Mendelssohn
Nocturne for Winds
Written by the composer when he was just 15 years old! It's a delightful opener.
Sergei Prokofiev
Violin Concerto No. 1
Music full of contrasts–from quirky and naughty to fierce and muscular.
Johannes Brahms
Haydn Variations
The masterful work sets moods at turns melancholy, playful, wistful, and sentimental.