eZseatU: FREE Concert for College Students

Whether you are just getting into classical music, or you have listened to classical music and attended concerts for years, you don’t want to miss your first opportunity to attend a concert this year—The Philadelphia Orchestra’s FREE College Concert, on Thursday, October 6, at 8:00 PM!

The program begins with Orchestra Assistant Conductor Cristian Macelaru conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio espagnol, a piece based on several Spanish folk melodies. Rimsky-Korsakov is known as one of the greatest orchestrators of all time. This piece will surely show off the lush “Philadelphia Sound,” as even Tchaikovsky hailed the Capriccio as “a colossal masterpiece of instrumentation.”

The program follows with several short pieces for the violin, performed by the young violinist Leila Josefowicz. First up are two encore pieces composed by the violinist Fritz Kreisler—“Liebesleid” and “Liebesfreud”—which mean Love’s Sorrow and Love’s Joy, respectively. Following the Kreisler pieces, she will perform the Meditation from Jules Massenet’s opera Thaïs. If you are a violinist, you probably performed at least one of these pieces!

After these three pieces, Josefowicz will perform the Toccare from John Adams’s Violin Concerto. This fast-paced and energetic movement features virtuosic passages for the solo violinist throughout, apparently inspired by Adams’s study of Indian bowed string instrumental music.

Following the Adams, the Orchestra will perform the extremely challenging tone poem Don Juan by Richard Strauss. The piece is based on Hungarian Nicolaus Lenau’s poem, whose protagonist is unlike Mozart’s rakish extrovert Don Giovanni, but rather a vain, sensual idealist. Strauss’ music captures the emotions and sensuality of Lenau’s drama through grand orchestral effects.

No, the new Lone Ranger movie is not premiering at the Kimmel Center, but the Orchestra will end its FREE Concert program with Rossini’s famous William Tell Overture—a piece you’ve heard throughout several films, TV shows, commercials, and even video games! However, the Overture has so much more than the last, fast-paced section that you’ve heard several times. Just like the Rimsky-Korsakov that will open the program, the Overture is another gem of orchestration. Be on the lookout for the passage that Berlioz, another brilliant orchestrator, loved so well—the quintet for five solo cellos in the opening of the Overture, in which the other cellos accompany the soloists with pizzicato.

Besides this fantastic program, there will be a number of festivities marking this special annual event, ranging from live band performances to meeting the Orchestra’s musicians to receiving an autograph from Leila Josefowicz herself. Best of all, you will have the opportunity to meet and mingle with other music lovers your age, studying in Philadelphia-area colleges.