Joined by a 160-voice choir and guest soloists, the Contra Costa Wind Symphony will perform the U. S. premiere of a symphonic work based on the music of Queen, the legendary rock band whose hits include ‘Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Will Rock You.
“This is one of our most ambitious and exciting concerts,” said Duane Carroll, the wind symphony’s conductor and music director. “It’s an opportunity to hear the group’s most famous hits as you’ve never heard them before—in a massive symphonic work using thematic material of Queen’s 39 years of music in the best classical tradition.”
Carroll will conduct the 65-member wind symphony as he has since it was founded 30 years ago.
Featured in “The Queen Symphony,” a work four years in the making by British composer-conductor Tolga Kashif, will be pianist Nathan Cheung, violinist Jim Potochny, and cellist Greg Colburn. They will be joined by the combined choirs, 160 voices in all, of Monte Vista and San Ramon Valley high schools under direction of Bruce Koliha and Ken Abrams.
The program will also feature “Gaelforce” by Peter Graham, a leading Scottish composer known for his works for brass band, and “ Violina” by the Hungarian composer Frigyes Hidas, with violinist Potochny as soloist.
“ The Queen Symphony” was first performed in 2007 in Tiburg, The Netherlands, under the baton of Erik Somers, a Dutch conductor who arranged the work for wind symphony.
Queen guitarist Brian May describes the work as “monumental and outrageous.”
“Imagine a composer let loose with the entire Queen catalogue of melodies, atmospheres, and textures, and a vast orchestra and a huge choir,” May says. “ Then you’ll be close to imaging where this work begins.”
Formed in 1971, Queen became one of the most acclaimed, commercially successful popular artists of all time. As of last year, the group is said to have sold 300 million albums, including those with such hits as “Another One Bites the Dust,” “We Are the Champions,” and “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
- Venue: Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church
- Date: Sat April 17, 2010 8:00pm
- City: Walnut Creek
- Price Range: $10.00 all seats. Open seating
- Tickets: On line and at the door. Cash or checks only at the door.
- Email |
Program
Tolga Kashif
“The Queen Symphony”
Peter Graham
“Gaelforce”
Frigyes Hidas
“ Violina”
Performers
Nathan Cheung
pianist
Jim Potochny
violinist
Greg Colburn
cellist
Monte Vista and San Ramon Valley high schools
160-voice combined choirs
More About This Event
SFCV Previews
April 8, 2010
Decades after its ascension to the glittery throne of Glam Rock, the band Queen continues to resonate loudly in pop culture. You could hear Queen’s imperative Don’t Stop Me Now resonating from the loudspeakers at AT&T Park last week as hoi polloi sought their seats for a preseason skirmish between the San Francisco Giants and the visiting Oakland A’s.
More »
