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Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

A symphony of beauty, history

From the Hebrides to Vienna, the music of the Merced Symphony Association's "Classical Masterworks" concert is an exploration of beauty and history.

"Every piece presented -- Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, Mozart's Symphony No. 35 and Beethoven's Piano Concerto, No. 1 -- is beautifully melodic and so easy to listen to," board member Joanna Browning said.

Featured soloist Patrice Stribling Nelson will perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto, No. 1, the piece she first played with the symphony as a Youth Audition winner in 1972.

"For me, this is a very special event," Stribling Nelson said.

Her mother, Lorraine Murphy Wenrich, was one of the co-founders of the Merced Symphony back in the early 1950s, and she remembers attending concerts and having symphony board meetings in her home when she was a toddler.

"My mom was a violinist with the symphony as well, so I probably attended every single MSO concert from my preschool days up until I moved away as a young wife and mother in the late '70s," Stribling Nelson said. "I was also pianist with the Merced Symphony off and on from the age of 12, for the next 12 years. When Henrik invited me to reprise the Beethoven concerto with them again this year, it's a joyous homecoming for me!"

"We are delighted she is performing with us," Browning said.

The symphony orchestra will accompany Stribling Nelson and perform Mozart's popular Symphony No. 35 and the luscious Hebrides.

Mendelssohn's Hebrides was written after the composer visited Fingal's Cave, a place, he wrote his sister, was so beautiful it could only be described through music.