PHOENIX -
July 12, 2013 -
PRLog -- There have always been places that seem steeped in music; cities or entire nations so deeply rhythmic and melodic that, without music, they simply wouldn’
t be the same places. In the U.S., New Orleans and Nashville come to mind. In Europe, the most familiar examples may be Paris and the Italian countryside. But in the Europe of not so long ago, one music capital that inspired composers and musicians to heights of creativity and passion was a breathtakingly beautiful nation that no longer even exists: Czechoslovakia.
Artistic Director and Conductor Timothy Verville and Arizona Pro Arte (http://www.azproarte.com/)
present the second performance in their innovative summer concert series, “Cool Classics,”
(http://www.azproarte.com/
summer-series/)
in the form of a musical postcard from Czechoslovakia. Titled “The Czech Connection,” the concert will be offered for one performance only, on Saturday, July 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Studio theater of the Tempe Center for the Arts (
http://www.tempe.gov/index.aspx?page=575).
For Dvořá
k, it was home. For Mozart, it was a romantic destination and a musical inspiration. This concert offers two views of Czechoslovakia:
one from a fascinated outsider looking in, the other a fiercely patriotic portrait painted by one of the nation’
s celebrated sons.
Mozart’
s Symphony No. 38 was named for the Czech capital, where it was also premiered, and it was taken to the hearts of the Czech people as much as Mozart himself. One contemporary newspaper said of him, “Mozart seems to have written for the people of Bohemia. His music is understood nowhere better than in Prague, and even in the countryside it is widely loved.”
This is high praise in a region that lent its name to those whose pursuit and love of the arts branded them “bohemians.”
One of those bohemians, by birth, was Antonin Dvořá
k, and it was from birth that the rich, soulful and danceable music of his homeland seeped into his spirit, to be revealed in all of his compositions for the rest of his life. His Seventh Symphony was written at a time when he felt that spirit even more strongly, as he struggled to convince a traditionalist music public outside of Czechoslovakia that his people had beautiful musical traditions all their own.
“The Czech Connection”
is only the second “Cool Classics”
performance of APA’s summer series, which is itself a “thank you” to the orchestra’
s fans for making its inaugural season such an unqualified success. APA concerts, including “Cool Classics’” number 1 in June, have yielded audience responses such as: “Beautiful performance. What a great chamber group!”
“An excellent event! Arizona Pro Arte delivered a perfect evening.”
and “amazing,” “powerful” and “gripping.”
All performances in the Cool Classics series take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Studio theater of the Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 West Rio Salado Parkway on the south shore of Tempe Town Lake. “Pilgrimage to Beethoven”
opened the series on June 15. After the July 20 performance of “The Czech Connection,” one concert will remain in the series: August 24’s performance of “Two Greats,”
featuring internationally renowned double bassist Catalin Rotaru. TCA will also be APA’s performance home for the 2013–14 season.
That season will offer the same fearless and fun artistic synthesis that has brought attention to the group in only its first season. The orchestra performed live on TV in November of 2012, earning recognition from 12 News Phoenix for “a unique collaboration of performing and visual arts that’s never been done before.”
KBAQ-FM likewise described APA’s debut season as “…
infused with a vigorous dose of collaboration often utilizing visual arts: film, painting and real-time computer visualizations.”
Information and tickets for Arizona Pro Arte’s Cool Classics and the 2012–13 APA season are available on their website (
http://www.azproarte.com/the-czech-connection/).
