Symphony set to premiere exclusive piece

DOWNEY - For more than 50 years, musicians with Downey's Symphony Orchestra have brought the enrichment of classical music performance to this community. That's a lot of notes under their collective hands, yet certain elements of the concert tomorrow evening will be unlike any that have come before it.This is as it needs to be, of course: stay fresh, mellow with maturity, innovate. For this concert, the second of our 51st season, we have not only a magnificent solo harpist in JoAnn Turovsky, but the premiere performance of a work written for her by composer Robert Litton, commissioned by the Downey Symphony. Litton will be on hand to check it all out, and you should be too. Both a performer and composer, Robert Litton has appeared extensively in the Bay Area in percussion performance, and his compositions have been presented by members of the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. He is also an emerging film composer. The ink on "Mendocino," his new score for the harp, may be almost dry when we hear it at this Jan. 31 concert. Not a problem for JoAnn Turovsky, who is "one of Los Angeles' musical gems," according to our music director, Sharon Lavery. "In addition to her duties as principal harpist of Los Angeles' Opera, Chamber and Master Chorale Orchestras," Lavery continues, "Turovsky is the leading harpist in the motion picture and television industry. If you have been to any major movie in the last two decades and heard a beautiful harp in the background, chances are it was played by this incredibly talented musician." All this and more comes to you in a neat package on Jan. 31 in the Downey Civic Theatre, with free parking. Reserved seat tickets are $20 and $25, available at the theater box office after 6:30 p.m. You will hear both Sharon Lavery and Robert Litton discussing the evening's music, starting at 7:15 p.m. The 8 p.m. performance includes Mozart's Overture to The Impresario and Felix Mendelssohn's "Scottish" Symphony, Litton's "Mendocino" and Maurice Ravel's Introduction and Allegro. Scrumptious. Lavery adds, "I look forward to seeing you all at this grand event, and please feel free to drop by and say hello to me and some of the DSO musicians in the lobby following the concert." How can you resist? ********** Published: January 30, 2009 - Volume 7 - Issue 41

EventsEric Pierce