Tehachapi Symphony to hold its fall concert

On Sunday, the Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra will perform its fall concert before a live audience at Country Oaks Baptist Church. Under the direction of David Newby, the musicians will honor their peer Paul Granna, who played tuba at the June concert and recently died from COVID-19.

The program will feature renowned Southern California pianist Jason Stoll in Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The concerto was composed, and recomposed, and revised again and again over a quarter of a century until it reached an almost-finished state in 1853. Then in 1855, following the work’s premiere in Weimar, the composer continued to alter some of its details. A single theme dominates the entire concerto, a theme that is transformed several times throughout the four connected sections.

Stoll has garnered many awards and praise for his performances in the States and internationally. Over the years, Stoll has been both participant and performer at several notable summer music festivals and has had the privilege of participating in master classes working closely with many distinguished artists. Currently, he is a piano instructor and lecturer, a freelance pianist and master class presenter. He is also a fan of the NBA, tennis, juggling, bowling and pingpong.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Egmont Overture” chronicles the 16th-century story of Lamoral, Count Egmont of the Netherlands, who defied a Spanish attack captained by the Duke of Alva. Beethoven wrote a heroic piece about the struggle against oppression and the eventual triumph of liberty creating a journey from darkness into light.

George Butterworth’s “First English Idyll” was completed in 1911. The music is established in the folk song and beauty of the English countryside. The young English composer, a second lieutenant in the 13th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, was killed by a sniper at the Battle of the Somme on Aug. 5, 1916, at the age of 31.

Zoltán Kodály was born in the Hungarian countryside, and when he was just a few years old his family moved to the village of Galanta in northern Hungary. He collected Hungarian folk music by going out into the field. Kodály patterned his “Dances of Galánta” after the typical 18th-century Hungarian dance performed by the military to lure young recruits. The piece was composed in 1936, a commission for the 80th anniversary of the Budapest Philharmonic Society.

Following the concert, audience members may meet Newby, Stoll and the symphony musicians.

The fall concert will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday at Country Oaks Baptist Church, 20915 Schout Road in Tehachapi. Please wear a mask to enjoy the concert.

Although all Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra concerts are free to the community, donations are still welcome. For more information, visit tehachapiorchestra.com or call 661-821-7511.