OSO presents A Touch of Vienna
Okanagan Symphony Orchestra presents A TOUCH OF VIENNA with James Sommerville | horn soloist and guest conductor Irina Medvedeva, soprano, and the OSO Chorus Mozart — Strauss Jr. — Lehar
Vienna holds a significant place at the heart of musical tradition and has for centuries. We celebrate that standing with a concert of delightful music that may just have you waltzing your way home as the last strains fade away.
We are delighted to welcome guest conductor James Sommerville to our stages for these concerts. James will do double duty as both conductor and soloist (a first for the OSO) in Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 3.
Prominent amid a glittering bio of achievements is Sommerville’s 25-year tenure as Principal Horn of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. As well as this prestigious career as an orchestral player, his achievements as horn soloist, conductor, chamber musician, and teacher are likewise stellar. His recording of all four Mozart horn concertos with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra and Mario Bernardi took the JUNO Award for Best Classical Recording (Large Ensemble) in 1998.
PENTICTON – Sat, Jan 20, 2 pm – Cleland Community Theatre
VERNON – Sun Jan 21, 2 pm – Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre
NOTE: PENTICTON & VERNON ARE 2:00 PM MATINEES!
We keep Mozart – who spent many years in Vienna and was an important part of the musical scene there in the 18th century – in the spotlight with his joyful Symphony No. 29. Although written when he was a mere 18 years old, Mozart was already an astonishingly experienced composer. “It’s music that crystallises the young man’s emerging compositional self-confidence, and that shows him spreading his wings in symphonic music just as he had already started to do in the opera house and in his chamber music. It’s a work that sums up everything he had heard and learnt about symphonic form up to this point in his life … but which is much more than the sum of those influences and is something that only Mozart could have written.” Tom Service, The Guardian.
We continue to celebrate the Viennese tradition with some of the best-loved choruses and arias from operettas by Johann Strauss Jr. (Die Fledermaus) and Franz Lehar (The Merry Widow) — featuring our own OSO Chorus and soprano Irina Medvedeva. Viennese operetta at its frothy, engaging, and enchanting best! And what program of Viennese music would be complete without the iconic Blue Danube Waltz?
Irina holds an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music degree from the University of Ottawa. She is described as being a “flexible, supple, yet powerful soprano” (The Globe and Mail) and has been praised for having “a large voice with an astonishing range” (Opera Canada).
Some good seats for A Touch of Vienna are still available but are going fast — purchase soon to avoid disappointment. Our new pricing zones for seating and discounted group sales make it easier to experience live orchestral music at a savings. For Kelowna and Penticton shows, contact the KCT Box Office at 250.469.8940; for the Vernon matinee, contact Ticket Seller at 250.549.7469.
