Rachmaninoff

Benefit Concert for Tsunami Victims

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2

Beethoven: Egmont Overture

J. S. Bach: Concerto for Two Violins

Barber: Adagio for Strings

Proceeds will go to the Red Cross to help the relief effort for victims of the tsunami in southern Asia and eastern Africa.

In remembrance of the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami, Conductor Sung Jin Hong and One World Symphony will be presenting a pair of benefit concerts. Proceeds from the concerts will be donated to the Red Cross to help the relief effort for survivors of the disaster. The program will be a meditation on loss, tragedy, recovery, and hope, and it will include works by Rachmaninov, Beethoven, Bach, and Barber.

Rachmaninoff's much-admired Piano Concerto No. 2 was written during a difficult period of the composer's life; "I'm simply in despair!" Rachmaninoff said during the compositional process. The product of this depair, however, has endured and shows a masterly transition from anguish to hope. Another work that depicts the triumph over loss and pain is Beethoven's Egmont Overture. Written in 1809 to accompany a revival of Goethe's tragedy Egmont at the Vienna Burgtheater, the piece depicts the tragic martyrdom of the young hero and the ultimate victory of his army and of his ideals of morality and justice. Bach's Concerto for Two Violins is so all-encompassing in its emotional scope that it allows the listener access to feelings throughout the emotional spectrum, from fear and mourning to hope and relief. Finally, Barber's Adagio for Strings (1936), played after the deaths of Presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy, is an incomparable anthem of remembrance and mourning. The lush strings soar in a long arch that almost seems to reach its emotional climax in silence at the end of the piece. As the world remembers the victims of the tsunami disaster, people from all countries recognize that we all share one world and are all one people. Music can express emotions that cannot be expressed in words: join One World Symphony to remember the victims and aid the survivors of this tragedy.


Friday, January 28, 2005
St. Ann and the Holy Trinity
Brooklyn Heights

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Sat, January 29, 2005
St. Luke's Lutheran Church
Manhattan

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