November 1, 2019 | UHCL Staff
Mercury Artistic Director Antoine Plante says that the orchestra’s upcoming performance of Mozart and Beethoven will be one of the biggest symphonic concerts of their season, with about 40 musicians onstage. The performance, to take place at University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Bayou Theater on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m., will include some of the finest woodwind musicians from all over the world as well as two music fellowship students from The Juilliard School.
“It’s exciting to address this repertoire, and to host musicians from other countries to strengthen our orchestra,” Plante said. “And a few years ago, we started a program with Juilliard to audition master’s-level students who are training in the style and music of the baroque and classical period instruments. We offer a fellowship to two students and give them the opportunity to visit us and have professional experience.”
This year, Plante said, a violinist and a historical flautist would be joining them for this concert as well as several others planned for the season. “The music by Mozart and Beethoven are big favorites,” he said. “An interesting feature of these pieces is that each of them in their own way have an approach to humor in the music.”
The concert opens with “The Marriage of Figaro” overture, which is a four-minute, easily recognizable piece. “There are comical sounds throughout. It’s amusing and fun,” Plante said. “And in the ‘Serenade for Strings and Timpani,’ Mozart is having fun by putting a group of strings with a timpani. It’s an unusual setup, but he put a timpani with strings and, throughout the piece, there’s a back and forth that’s is humorous, and the last movement will actually make you laugh.”
In the second half, continued Plante, there’s a serious and dramatic overture that moves into Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 1.”
“There’s a lot of humor and the repetition of three notes,” he said. “The third movement of a symphony is usually a minuet, but this time, Beethoven turns it into a musical joke. The last movement, it seems as though he’s making several tries up the scale to get it moving, but it stops before it finally gets there with energy.”
Plante added that if you know what to listen for, you’ll find the humor. “It’s not as large as the romantic symphonies, but it’s close, and it’s fun to bring that to UHCL.”
Purchase Bayou Theater tickets online.
