MAESTRO'S MUSINGS by YAACOV BERGMAN

Cultural Connections - September 17 and 18, 2005

The September 17 & 18, 2005 "Cultural Connections" program is stylistically connected by Baroque and Italian influence. This program will include the Concerto Grosso 1985, a work composed by the highly regarded American composer, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, in commemoration of the three-hundredth anniversary of Handel's birth. In his triptych, "Il Tritico,"inspired by three famous paintings of Botticelli, - Primavera, The birth of Venus, and the Adoration of the Magi - composer Ottorino Respighi celebrates Renaissance art, a facet of his Italian heritage he deeply revered. The PCO performance of this evocative composition will combine music with a visual display of the Botticelli paintings. Domenico Cimarosa's short one act opera, "Il Maestro di Cappella,"will bring to the program this great Italian composer's hilarious musical portrait of the temperamental "maestro" featuring the Portland Met 2004 competition winner, baritone Jordan Shanahan. Concluding this Italian flavored program is Mendelssohn's Fourth Symphony, "The Italian," a composition bursting with joy and a reflection of his inspirational trip to Italy.

Children and parents are welcome to attend "For Free" the Saturday morning Dress Rehearsal at 10 am. And, as always, children under 12 are admitted free to the regular performances.