DuPage Symphony goes out with a bang
By Annie Alleman For Sun-Times Media May 3, 2012 9:56AM
DuPage Symphony Orchestra: Mighty and Magical
♦ May 12
♦ Wentz Concert Hall, 171 E. Chicago Ave., Naperville
♦ Tickets, $28-$11
♦ (630) 637-7469
Northcentralcollege.edu/showtix
Updated: May 7, 2012 1:21PM
The DuPage Symphony Orchestra plans to tear the roof off the Wentz at its last concert of the season.
The DSO presents “Mighty and Magical” at 8 p.m. May 12 for its final performance at Naperville’s North Central College.
The concert features Taiwan-born pianist Ching-Yun Hu, winner of the 2009 Concert Artists Guild International Competition.
The entire concert will be full of energy from the get-go, said Patricia Fragen, co-chair of marketing and violinist with the DSO.
“We’re starting with a piece called ‘Symphonic Sketches’ by Chadwick. It is starts … very fast, very energetic,” she said. “Realistically, the energy is just not going to drop anytime this entire concert. Even the slow movements are very dramatic and very powerful.”
After intermission, the DSO lets loose with Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major.
“The Mahler Symphony No. 1 is the most-requested by the musicians,” she said. “This is our passion. It is an incredible piece. The brass section goes wild. Mahler loves trumpets. And there are these conversations between the celli and the winds and the brass, and it is magical. You follow the sound and you get lost. It’s a fairly long symphony. It easily fills the second half of the concert, but you won’t even notice the time go by because you get so enraptured by the glory of this piece. It is truly majestic.”
The orchestra’s passion for the piece will be contagious, she said, and this performance will feature a larger-than-usual DSO.
“One of the really cool things about the Mahler piece is the percussion section,” she said. “It has a bigger percussion section and extra brass. We average about 100 people at this point, but Mahler actually calls out 100 in the score. It’s intended for 100 musicians. It is intended to blow the roof off.”
“We are going to fill the hall with sound. It is going to weave its way between everybody, and fill every empty space from floor to ceiling, from wall to wall, and it’s just going to transport the audience,” she said.
This concert is the first opportunity to purchase subscriptions to the 2012-13 season. The earlier people subscribe the better chance they have of getting the seats they want.
