CSO goes to the movies
Tonight’s ‘Movie Masterworks’ concert will include tribute to the late Fletcher Bright
Lee University faculty member Cahill Smith will be the featured pianist during the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera’s “Movie Masterworks” concert tonight, Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St.
“Movie Masterworks,” conducted by Kayoko Dan, CSO music director, will feature iconic pieces from classic movies, which should prove entertaining for symphony patrons as well as movie buffs. The concert will also include a memorial to the late Fletcher Bright, fiddle player, avid supporter of musical arts and patron of the CSO.
“I’m excited to present this concert centered around pieces written for and performed in iconic classic movies,” says Dan. “This gives us the opportunity to present a concert that features different works that come together to form an enjoyable and entertaining evening for everyone.”
Cahill will be featured on Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22, which movie buffs will recognize from “Amadeus,” the 1984 fictionalized biography of Mozart.
The overture to Wagner’s opera, “Tannhauser,” will be performed. The overture has appeared in more than 20 movies and is known for its innovative orchestration and dramatic movements.
Also on the program is “Lieutenant Kije” Suite, one of Prokofiev’s bestknown works although it was his first attempt at film music; and “The Sea Hawk Overture” by Korngold, written for the swashbuckling 1940 adventure film, “The Sea Hawk,” which starred Errol Flynn.
CSO concertmaster Holly Mulcahy and the CSO strings will perform “Ashokan Farewell” during the concert to honor Bright.
“Ashokan Farewell” was composed by American folk musician Jay Ungar in 1982. The piece is a waltz in D major, composed in the style of a Scottish lament. Ungar described the song as coming from a sense of loss and longing. For many years it served as a goodnight or farewell waltz at the annual Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camps run by Ungar and his wife in upstate New York.
The tune was used as the title theme of the 1990 PBS television miniseries “The Civil War.”
Tickets start at $21 with discounts for students and educators. Following the concert, ticketholders are invited to a reception in the lobby to meet select musicians and guest artists.
For more information: 423-267-8583.