Everett Philharmonic Orchestra: Season Opener Concert
$25-$38 ($10 student w/ ID; $10 ages 6-18; ages 5 & under free)
- Carrie Rehkopf Michel, violin
- John Michel, cello
- Paul-Elliott Cobbs, conductor
Johannes Brahms — Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, Op. 102 (Carrie Rehkopf Michel, violin & John Michel, cello)
Ludwig van Beethoven — Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
The Everett Phil opens its season with festive masterworks by Price and Beethoven, and an elegiac double concerto by Brahms. Florence Price’s Symphony in E Minor won first prize in the prestigious Rodman Wanamaker Competition. She took to heart Dvořák’s suggestion to create a national composition built upon American music. Innovating upon the example set in his New World Symphony, Price’s symphony masterfully crafts African-American spirituals, church hymns and Juba dance into a distinctly American masterpiece. Next, the husband-and-wife team of John Michel and Carrie Rehkopf Michel return to Everett to perform the deeply poignant double concerto for cello and violin by Brahms. Everett audiences have enjoyed their virtuosity and pathos previously, but never together. Then we’ll conclude with a masterpiece that Beethoven considered one of his best, his Symphony No. 7. In light of all the joy and jubilation found in its outer movements, it’s astounding that his second movement should so deeply touch audiences that it’s still often used today to invoke feelings of tragedy and loss. Equally powerful, the symphony’s energetic presto and finale will have you dancing out of your seats.
About Carrie Rehkopf Michel, violin
Since 1990, Carrie Rehkopf Michel has been the violin professor at Central Washington University in idyllic Ellensburg, Washington. Living in a rural area, her particular interests in building new audiences and cultivating artistry in players of all levels have led her to incorporate elements of acting, choreography and narrative into her violin work. Called a 'first-class musician' by Sir Georg Solti, she toured North America for 24 years as first violinist of the Kairos Quartet.
Founder and Director of both the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Institute and the Kairos Chamber Music Lyceum, Ms. Rehkopf has also performed at the Tanglewood, Banff and Norfolk festivals, at the Interharmony Festival in Italy, and Music & More SummerFest in Herzegovina. She has given concerto performances with the Everett, Olympia, Wenatchee, Yakima, Southwest Washington, and Lake Sammamish Symphonies, as well as several youth orchestras. She envisioned and led a "flash mob" of string players in joining her during the cadenza of Mozart's G major Concerto with the Everett Philharmonic. Ms. Rehkopf gave the world premiere of Maria Newman's beautiful violin concerto, Lux Aeterna, which she recorded at Capitol Records.
During the 2017-2018 season, she and her cellist husband John Michel performed Brahms's Double Concerto from memory in Seattle, Olympia, and Ellensburg, and also performed the last movement at the Kennedy Center.
Her former students play in many orchestras and receive awards as outstanding teachers in higher education, the public schools and private studios. Before her position in higher education, Ms. Rehkopf enjoyed performing great literature with various professional orchestras, and loved to snorkel during her time as Associate Principal Second of the Honolulu Symphony.
She received her degrees from the University of Michigan, studying with Camilla Wicks and Angel Reyes and studied further in London with David Takeno. As Kairos has expanded into a more collaborative chamber ensemble, she revels in juxtaposing classical music with other art forms and collaborates regularly with choreographer Shauna Goddard Barger from Los Angeles. The Michels enjoy reading chamber music with their three highly amusing sons.
About John Michel, cello
About Paul-Elliott Cobbs, conductor
Maestro Paul-Elliott Cobbs is a unique voice in the international music community. Educated at the Akademie für Musik, Vienna, Cobbs possesses an intimate knowledge of European masterworks combined with rare expertise in American multiculturalism. His interpretation of William Grant Still's Afro-American Symphony - the subject of his doctoral thesis - is considered definitive by many.
A popular guest conductor, Cobbs appears frequently with orchestras and ensembles in Europe, Asia, and the United States including Vienna's Festival Chamber Orchestra, members of the Dresden and Leipzig Opera, the Kamimura Wind Ensemble in Kagoshima, Japan; and the Seattle Symphony.
http://paulelliottcobbs.com/