BLACK HILLS SYMPHONY EXPLORES “THE FORCE OF DESTINY” MARCH 1, 2014
The Black Hills Symphony Orchestra will perform two symphonic masterworks that explore the personal confrontation with fate – Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 and the overture to Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” — at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 1, in the Rapid City Performing Arts Center, 601 Columbus St.
The concert, under the direction of Bruce Knowles, will also feature incidental music by Sibelius for “Belshazzar’s Feast” and five selections from the first suite of music from Bizet’s “Carmen.”
Bruce Knowles, who became music director of the BHSO in 2009, has been active in the musical life of the Black Hills region for more than 30 years. In addition to leading the BHSO, he is the director of the award-winning orchestras at Central High School.
Tchaikovsky is best known for delightful works including “The Nutcracker” and the patriotic “1812 Overture,” but in his fourth symphony – which begins with a fanfare of fate — he expressed the turmoil and anguish of his inner psychological life in a sort of intense musical autobiography.
He wrote to a friend, “Fate is the fatal power that prevents one from attaining the goal of happiness… there is nothing to be done but to submit to it and lament in vain.”
The Winter Olympics in Sochi brought media focus on the recently enacted laws in Russia that have encouraged the persecution of homosexuals, but the Russian society of Tchaikovsky’s time was not any more welcoming.
Fear that his sexual orientation would be exposed, and a doomed quest to lead a “normal” life, had driven the composer into a hopeless and short-lived marriage, leaving him to conclude that life could only be bearable by rejoicing in the happiness of others. He poured this emotion into a symphony that has become one of the most-performed works of the late 19th century.
The opera “La Forza del Destino,” aply translated “The Power of Fate,” tells the tragic story of three lives — thrust together by fate – as they careen down a path to ruin. The overture, which was added in a revised version, has become a staple of the symphonic repertoire.
The Rapid City Performing Arts Center provides an intimate and acoustically pleasing home for the BHSO. None of the theater’s 830 seats are distant from the stage, ample free parking is available, and the “historic” feel of the hall enhances the concert experience. The PAC is also now the location of the BHSO offices and music library.
The sponsor of the concert is ???. The BHSO also receives general financial support from the City of Rapid City, Art Works (arts.gov), the Allied Arts Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the South Dakota Arts Council, as well as from many individuals and businesses. Learn more at bhsymphony.org.
Tickets for the BHSO “Force of Destiny” concert — $19-28 for adults and $10-17 for students – are available at the Performing Arts Center box office, by phone at (605)-348-4676, or online at http://performingartsrc.org/box-office. The box office will open one hour before the performance.
Groups of 10 or more will receive a 10 percent discount off of their entire ticket purchase. Offer valid at box office locations only. To honor soldiers and their families, the symphony offerings a 20 percent discount on ticket purchases by active duty military. This offer valid only at the box office location, with valid military ID.