Stockbridge — They are so rare that even with capable musicians seemingly everywhere, Berkshire County has only one community orchestra, namely, the Stockbridge Sinfonia. This group, led by the Berkshire Music School’s Tracy Wilson, is celebrating its 51st year of operation in a series of concerts titled “Salute to Women Composers.”
The orchestra’s first show was on August 5, and here are the remaining dates:
- Saturday, August 12, 3 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church Common Room, 74 First Street, Pittsfield
- Sunday, August 13, 6 p.m. at Saint James Place, 352 Main Street, Great Barrington
Early this year, Lanesborough composer Alice Spatz completed the final movement to her “Berkshire Triptych (River, City, Mountain),” a work Sinfonia performed in part last summer. This year, the orchestra performs the piece in its entirety, including a world premiere of its final movement, “Mountain.”
One piece on the program, the scherzo movement of Louise Farrenc’s “Nonet,” is expressly designated to feature Sinfonia students in first chair positions. The public response to Farrenc’s “Nonet” was, according to its publisher, so positive that the Paris Conservatory was compelled to raise Farrenc’s salary in line with its male professors.
The featured work of the series is Amy Beach’s Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 32, the first symphony composed and published by a female American composer (at a time when even male composers were rare in America). The Boston Symphony Orchestra gave the symphony its premiere performance on October 30, 1896, when Beach was barely 30 years old. Subtitled “Gaelic,” the piece is based largely on old Irish, Scottish, and English melodies. Later, the composer incorporated elements of Native-American, Inuit, and African-American songs into her music.
Sinfonia concertmaster Christine Singer plays the violin solo in the third movement of Beach’s symphony, with cello co-principals Ivan Trabka and Joe Cracolici also handling solo passages.
One of the most interesting pieces on the Sinfonia program comes at the beginning: Gerald Elias’s “Overture in the Classical Style for Chamber Orchestra.” The nine-minute work incorporates a solo violin part that co-principal first violinist Chenyang Lin performs.
Elias, a former Boston Symphony violinist, has coached Sinfonia players for years. He composed “Overture” in 2005, and the Utah Philharmonia gave the premiere performance of it that year. Elias wants to make sure people understand that by “classical” he means 18th-century classical. He describes “Overture” like this: “A truly tonal overture in the style of Mozart and the form of the mid to late 18th century sinfonia, with a middle ‘movement’ sicilienne featuring solos by concertmaster, bassoons and flutes.”
Quite a few people have liked the piece so much that they had to speak up. Deseret News wrote, “This could very well have served as the overture to Mozart’s ‘Marriage of Figaro’ or ‘Don Giovanni,’ but as with the Concerto Grosso, Elias cleverly adds his unique perspective to familiar musical forms. The piece is urbane, stylish and highly entertaining.”
Hear the Stockbridge Sinfonia at Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield on August 12 at 3 p.m., or at Saint James Place in Great Barrington on August 13 at 6 p.m. Admission is free to all Stockbridge Sinfonia performances, but donations at the door are greatly appreciated.
