By Laurie O’Neill — [email protected]
“Music and dance are partners in artistic expression,” says Concord Orchestra director Zeke Fetrow.
The orchestra’s upcoming concert titled “Dreaming With Your Feet,” which takes place May 31 and June 1 at 51 Walden Performing Arts Center, will reflect “the many ways music and dance work together,” Fetrow says.
He notes that the program’s title is inspired by Constanze Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s wife, who once said, “Music is like dreaming with your feet.”
“We’re playing music that spans 250 years, and it’s interesting to note the variety in both style and taste,” Fetrow says.
The orchestra will perform Mozart’s “Violin Concerto No. 4 in D,” offering baroque and classical period dance forms and phrasing, he adds, while Arturo Marquez’s “Danzon No. 2” celebrates the vitality of modern Latinx dance.
Quirky and fun
Michael Kurth’s “Everything Lasts Forever,” which Fetrow says “puts contemporary rhythmic flair on traditional dance rhythms,” is also on the program.
Kurth is a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The ironic title of his composition refers to a faded, disintegrating banner the composer saw hanging on a bridge, on which those three words were printed.
Jihye Yun, a 12-year-old aspiring violinist from Winchester, was selected by Fetrow and a panel of orchestra members as the winner of the 2024-25 Concord Orchestra Young Artist Concerto Competition, which is open to musicians of high school age or younger who live in eastern Massachusetts. She will play the Mozart concerto with the orchestra.
The Italian composer Ottorino Respighi’s “Pines of Rome” rounds out the program. The “popular tone poem” describes four scenes at different times in history and features a “triumphant finale” that mimics the sound of marching soldiers, Fetrow says.
The pieces are “all unique and fun … and all a little quirky,” he adds, and the orchestra “is having a ball” with them.
The young artist competition’s runners-up will present a recital before each concert. On May 31, Lorenzo Ye, 17, of Boston, will play the cello, and on June 1, violinist Lillian Arnold Mages, 16, of Waltham, will perform.
“Dreaming With Your Feet” is at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 31, and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 1, at 51 Walden Performing Arts Center. A young artist recital will precede the concerts at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday and 1:45 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $25 for adults and seniors and free for youth under 18. For tickets and information, call (978) 369-4967 or visit concordorchestra.com.
