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SPOTLIGHT ON SOLOISTS
 Brandi Brown has been playing the violin for 13 years. She is one of four soloists from the Concerto Aria Festival performing in Wednesday's Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra concert. (The Observer/DICK MASON). Jeff Petersen Staff Writer Classical music lovers are in for a treat Wednesday. That's when the Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra hosts four soloists from the Concerto Aria Festival. "It helps us highlight the incredible local talent we have," says Leandro Espinosa, symphony conductor. The orchestra, after hours and hours of rehearsal, presents its second concert of the season starting at 7:30 p.m. in McKenzie Theatre on the Eastern Oregon University campus. Tickets for the event cost $10, $ 8 for seniors and $ 5 for students and children. Tickets may be purchased at Sunflower Books, at the EOU Bookstore, or at the door before the concert. Soloists are Ben Pettit, flute; Aurora Torres, viola; Debbie Winn, soprano; and Brandi Brown, violin. The program will be a stiff test for the skills of the 40-member orchestra's musicians. The symphony opens with "Night on Bald Mountain." This Modest Mussorgsky piece gives the feeling of walking into a haunting house. The music, with its Russian flavor, moves very fast, then stops abruptly. "It's not deep but kind of grotesque and full of surprises," Espinosa says. "It has a down-to-earth brutality, that at times sounds chunky, and it's a matter of putting the chunks together." Contrast that to the lyricism of the orchestra's ending piece, after intermission. Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 in A, "The Italian," is technically very demanding, Espinosa says. "There are technical demands one after another after another," he says. But the orchestra has to make it sound like it's easy. "It's a brilliant and very difficult piece," he says, "full of tension and then full of lightness. It's extremely energetic and at the same time extremely light, weightless and illumined." And it requires the orchestra to play at what Espinosa calls "astronomical speeds" for long periods of time. The conductor says the orchestra has responded well to the challenge. "The players are super sensitive, extremely skillful, a very powerful group," he says. Mastering this concert puts the bar high for Oregon's oldest continuously running orchestra. "After this, we should be able to more or less play anything at a technical, skillful level," Espinosa says. "Now I'll be able to throw to them tough work with a capital T, and they can handle it." The standards are high, Espinosa says, and that's just the way the orchestra wants it. Brandi Brown has a passion for music. The 22-year-old Eastern Oregon University student from the Tri-Cities has been playing the violin for 13 years. She is one of four soloists from the Concerto Aria Festival performing in Wednesday's Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestra concert. Brown's parents got her involved with music when she had "more energy than they could handle." She began taking lessons from Donna Endress of Richland, Wash., and later with Robert Burroughs of Columbia Basin College. Brown has won many awards between the ages 12 to 17. They include the Desert Hills Middle School Outstanding Musician award, Camerata musica performer 1997-2000 and the 1999 Mid-Columbia Young Artist winner. She was a member of the Mid-Columbia Symphony orchestra from 1999 to 2003. Currently Brown is a music major studying with Lisa Robertson. Her major is in violin performance and music education. She hopes to make a career teaching music and playing the violin. Robertson serves as her mentor. "Lisa Robertson is the type of teacher that I hope to be someday," Brown says. "From the first day that I have arrived here at Eastern she has gone above and beond her teacher duties. She takes my dreams and goals personally and gets deeply involved in her students' musical studies." IF YOU GO What: GRSO When: Wednesday Where: McKenzie Theatre Program Leandro Espinosa, conductor "Night on Bald Mountain," Modest Mussorgsky (orchestrated by N. Rimsky-Korsakov) Concerto Aria Festival participants: Ben Pettit, flute "Night Soliloquy," Kent Kennan Aurora Torres, viola "Concerto for Viola in G," Georg Philipp Telemann Debbie Winn, soprano Voi, che sapete (from The Marriage of Figaro) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Non so piu cosa son, cosa faccio (from The Marriage of Figaro) Brandi Brown, violin Violin Concerto No. 2 in E BWV 1042, Johann Sebastian Bach Intermission Symphony No.4 in A ("Italian," Op. 90 1833), Felix Mendelssohn I. Allegro vivace II. Andante con moto III. Con moto moderato IV. Saltarello (Presto) |
