AZ Pro Art takes on the Arizona heat with 'Cool Classics' summer concerts in Tempe

TEMPE, Ariz. - June 12, 2014 - PRLog -- Last summer, the Arizona Pro Arte (http://www.azproarte.com/) tried something unprecedented. Instead of putting away their instruments and closing their doors when the heat was on, as most local arts groups do, APA invited Valley music lovers into the Tempe Center for the Arts for its new summer concert series, “Cool Classics.” As APA Artistic Director and Conductor Timothy Verville (http://www.azproarte.com/about-2/artistic-director-and-conductor) put it then, “You shouldn’t have to put away your passion for great music for three months. The Tempe Center for the Arts is filled with very cool air for the summer, and we want to fill it with very cool music, too.” TCA was filled with something else last summer: music fans. Two of the three performances sold out, and that was enough to convince Verville and his musicians that “Cool Classics” had earned an encore.

So Arizona Pro Arte is announcing “Cool Classics 2,” offering one performance in each of July, August and September, all in the Studio of Tempe Center for the Arts on the shore of Tempe Town Lake. New for Cool Classics this season are seating options created in response to audience requests and the opportunity to purchase refreshments (including cocktails) in the TCA café and bring them to the performance. And the September concert allows the audience to call the tunes, picking their favorites from the “Mystery Music Box.”

A summer classical series with premium seating options, cool refreshments and an entire concert programmed by the audience are just the sort of innovations the Valley has come to expect from Verville and Arizona Pro Arte. Their unique, inventive approach to programming has been praised by TV, radio and print reviewers for two seasons, and “Cool Classics 2” promises more of the same. Sellout audiences are expected, so buyers are urged to get tickets early at azproarte.com (http://www.azproarte.com/). The concerts are:

July 12:  Russian Revolution — Glinka: Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

What do you get when you forge western, capital-R Romanticism in the fires of Russian nationalism? Soul-stirring, unforgettable music like this. Mikhael Glinka ignited the nationalist movement in Russian music with works like his opera, Russlan and Ludmilla. Its energetic, joyful overture has become a contemporary favorite. Of Tchaikovsky, none other than Igor Stravinsky declared, “He is the most Russian of us all!” And the powerful fifth symphony is Tchaikovsky at his dramatic Russian best. “Russian Revolution” will be performed without intermission.

Aug. 2:   European Vacation — Mozart: Overture to Don Giovanni; Schumann: Symphony No. 3, “Rhenish”; Bruch: Concerto for Clarinet, Viola and Orchestra

Take a trip to the Old Country from your seat in the TCA. Mozart’s Don Giovanni overture recalls aristocratic life in Italy in the 1700s (and a man who tried to live it to the fullest!). Schumann penned his “Rhenish” symphony as a musical photo album of time he spent with Clara in the verdant Rhine valley. And Bruch’s concerto is beloved for its German Romantic melodies that feature and blend the gorgeous voices of the clarinet and viola.

Sept. 6:  Mystery Music Box

Arizona Pro Arte may be the only orchestra that listens to you! As Artistic Director and Conductor Timothy Verville says, “We think our audience has great taste, so why not let you pick what we play?” Visit azproarte.com (http://www.azproarte.com/) to learn how you get to be music director for a night on September 6.

All performances in Arizona Pro Arte’s Cool Classics series take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Studio of the Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 West Rio Salado Parkway on the south shore of Tempe Town Lake. General admission tickets are $19, and premium seating, in the first four rows, is $26.50. Discounts are available for balcony seating, and for seniors, active-duty military and students. Information, tickets and a map to the Tempe Center for the Arts are available at azproarte.com (http://www.azproarte.com/).