When San Juan Symphony music director Arthur Post steps up to the conductor’s podium at the Community Concert Hall on Saturday, it will mark the start of a season-long swan song with the Four Corners orchestra.
After 13 years at the helm of the symphony, Post will leave the position at the end of this season to focus on his other music director job in Thunder Bay, Ontario, as well as his family in Barcelona.
But before he departs, he has a big season of music planned – a four-part farewell that will feature soaring symphony favorites, edgier contemporary pieces and a special evening of opera.
“A couple of big symphonies, a good dose of new and exciting music, and some sheer fun,” Post said when asked what he has in store for Four Corners audiences. “I’m really happy to be able to continue to present some of the things that have been so successful here ... and to be able to continue to design new concert experiences.”
The 2014-15 season, titled “A Joyous Farewell,” will kick off this weekend with performances in Durango on Saturday and Cortez on Sunday.
The program, “The Virtuoso Violin and Beethoven’s Fifth,” will include a new piece by New York City composer Paul Haas, an appearance by formidable violin soloist Odin Rathnam and one of the most enduring pieces of classical music of all time: Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony.”
Post is particularly excited about the Haas work, “Dream,” which he said was inspired by the energy of lucid dreaming.
“His music is really music of our time,” Post said. “It’s a piece where the music moves in energetic waves. It’s a very attractive piece also, very accessible.”
Rathnam, meanwhile, will perform three “beautiful and entertaining romantic showpieces for violin,” Post said, and the orchestra will wrap up with Beethoven’s famed symphony.
“It’s one of those pieces that every time you come back to it, you discover again why it’s the greatest symphony ever written,” he said.
In store for the rest of the season: a special celebration of opera, a spotlight on Dvorak and new creations by a visionary young composer.
San Juan Symphony Executive Director Kathy Myrick said the season began with a special commissioned painting of Post by Paul Folwell (this season’s poster art), and will end with a special commissioned piece of music by Boulder composer Paul Fowler.
“The whole season will be punctuated with a number of special events,” Myrick said. “I’m excited about the fact that we’re going to do some bigger and different things in celebration of Arthur’s time with us.”
The San Juan Symphony is comprised of musicians from the Four Corners as well as areas like Albuquerque, Flagstaff, the Front Range and Salt Lake City. The full orchestra usually numbers around 65, and traditionally performs in Durango and Farmington (it also began playing in Cortez last season).
Post was appointed music director in June 2002. In the years since, he said, he has enjoyed being able to program innovative and compelling music and help nurture a love of classical music in the community. Under his leadership, the SJS has created collaborations with local artists, performed its first commissioned world premiere and produced its first CD.
“It’s been a great life experience,” Post said. “The symphony and the Four Corners have been such an important part of my life that it really is hard to imagine a future without it ... I’m tremendously grateful for all the opportunities that the community and the audience and the musicians have offered me.”
kklingsporn@durangoherald.com
If you go
The San Juan Symphony will present “The Virtuoso Violin and Beethoven’s Fifth” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Community Concert Hall, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive. A second performance will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Montezma-Cortez High School in Cortez.
The remainder of the 2014-15 season will include:
Opera Celebration, Nov. 22 in Farmington and Nov. 23 in Durango, with guest conductor Linda Mack Berven, soprano Gemma Kavanagh, baritone Corey McKern, the Durango Choral Society, the Caliente Community Chorus and pieces by Mozart, Bizet, Leoncavallo, Verdi and Borodin.
Three Favorites, Feb. 21 in Durango and Feb. 22 in Farmington, with pianist Tanya Gabrielian, side-by-sides with student musicians and pieces by Gliere, Mozart and Dvorak.
Music of the Timeless Spirit, April 26 in Durango, with vocalist Paul Fowler and pieces by Fowler, Rameau, William Walton and David Byrne.
For a full schedule or ticket information, visit www.sanjuansymphony.org.
