Seattle Mandolin Orchestra: Mandolympics
$10-$15
Ernest Bloch — Pastorale and Rustic Dances
Katsumi Nagaoka — Yume
Luiz Floriano Bonfá — Manhã de Carnaval
Carlo Munier — Selected works
John Goodin — Selected works
Victor Kioulaphides — Selected works
Jacob do Bandolim — Selected works
For its 2016 spring concert, the Seattle Mandolin Orchestra presents “Mandolympics,” an internationally themed program that finds the orchestra performing music from four continents in a wide array of styles.
“The mandolin is best known in Italian popular music and American folk,” said Joseph Pollard White, artistic advisor for the orchestra. “And while we fully embrace that tradition, we also intend to demonstrate just how versatile mandolin music is, and how far the instrument has traveled.”
To represent Europe, the orchestra will play a quartet from Italian composer Carlo Munier (1859–1911), who devoted his life to writing solo and ensemble works for the mandolin, as well as the familiar Allegro by Belgian composer Joseph-Hector Fiocco (1703–41).
The North American section of the program features two living composers: Iowa’s John Goodin, whose works are informed by American folk dance music, and Athens-born Victor , a Juilliard-trained composer whose eclectic works balance modernism and tradition. The orchestra will also interpret the Pastorale and Rustic Dances by Ernest Bloch, the Swiss composer who emigrated to the U.S. in 1916 and settled in Oregon.
With the inclusion of Yume by Katsumi Nagaoka, Mandolympics acknowledges the incredible popularity of the mandolin in Japan (one survey reported 188 mandolin ensembles in Tokyo alone). Finally, the orchestra will pay tribute to the irresistible rhythms of Brazil – host of this year’s Summer Olympics – with two pieces from Brazilian virtuoso Jacob do Bandolim, as well as the sultry Manhã de Carnaval from the film Black Orpheus, by Luiz Bonfá.
“Mandolympics is a team sport,” said White. “While we’ve worked with a number of exciting soloists and will continue doing so as often as we can, this time the spotlight is entirely on the orchestra and what we can do as a group.”
General admission $15; students/seniors $10.