We believe in the future of great music…
We play great new, neglected, and traditional symphonic music, introduce the finest new artists, and give you the greatest musical experience you’ve never had – yet!
2019-2020 MusicaNova Orchestra Concerts
Beethoven to Tap Shoes: Dancing Around the World
October 2019
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92 “The Apotheosis of the Dance” (1813)
- Morton Gould: Tap Dance Concerto (1952)
- Peggy Glanville-Hicks: Sinfonia da Pacifica (1952)
No less than Richard Wagner called Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 “the apotheosis of the dance” for its energetic and engaging rhythms (though conductor Sir Thomas Beecham said “It’s like a lot of yaks jumping about”), while American Morton Gould’s Tap Dance Concerto features a master tapper as soloist with a symphony orchestra. The extraordinary Sinfonia da Pacifica of Australia’s Peggy Glanville-Hicks melds dances from Pacific Rim countries into an exotic mix of rhythms and sounds.
Rhineland Muses: Journeys in Romantic Music
January 2020
- Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 97 “Rhenish” (1850)
- Eugen D’Albert: Cello Concerto in C Major, Op. 20 (1899)
Viking River Cruises has nothing on Robert Schumann, whose 1849 trip through the Rhineland with wife Clara, that “felt like a pilgrimage” as they traveled through the castle-bedecked countryside, inspired his Rhenish Symphony. Eugen D’Albert, a much-traveled cosmopolitan son of Italian and French parents, was born in Scotland, brought up in England, lived most of his life in Germany, and died in Latvia, where he’d gone to divorce his sixth wife. He was inspired to write his remarkable Cello Concerto by Schumann’s eponymous work that was composed at the same time as his Rhenish Symphony.
The Mannheim Phenomenon: Centuries of String Orchestra Sound
May 2020
- Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Symphony in B Minor,182/5 (1773)
- Heitor Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileras No. 9 (1945)
- Ottorino Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances, Third Suite (1932)
The String Orchestra concept first arose as an explosive sensation steamrolling out of Mannheim, Germany in the 1740s, and has been a staple of the concert repertoire ever since. Composers range from CPE Bach (who was inspired by hearing the original Mannheim String Orchestra), to the exotic world of Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos, whose Bachianas Brasileras manage to sound both like his country’s folk music and Bach at the same time! Italian composer Ottorino Respighi ties together the centuries by bringing Renaissance music for lute and guitar up to date with a twentieth-century treatment of these old songs and dances.
Orchestra
Concerts
The finest in new and neglected music and new interpretations of the classics, works you won’t hear anywhere else in Arizona
Young Artist Concerts
Devoted to featuring extraordinarily talented soloists under 18 from the Valley of the Sun, performing in a formal recital setting
Community Concerts
Free, family-friendly events presenting a wide variety of musical styles performed by accomplished artists, in an informal setting
Education Programs
Visiting schools, mentoring composers, and collaborating with student-musicians brings the joy of great music to the widest audience
MusicaNova Orchestra Concerts are supported by grants from the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, Tempe Arts Grants, and Scottsdale Arts.
