KSO This Week: Essential Elgar, Storybook Stravinsky

Following its compelling opening Masterworks Series concerts last month, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra embraces an intriguing program for its October concerts this week that feature Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor with guest soloist Zlatomir Fung, along with Igor Stravinsky’s delicious folk-fantasy ballet score, Petrushka. Maestro Aram Demirjian will be opening the concert with the eight-minute Floridian Symphony by Meilina Tsui—receiving its first performances in the state of Tennessee.

Meilina Tsui: Floridian Symphony

Although born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the 22-year old composer now makes her home in Orlando, Florida, a locale that is the inspiration for her work on this concert. In her program notes, she describes that inspiration:  “…In this piece, I try to capture the “symphonic” voices of Florida’s natural inhabitants – insects, birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians — as well as sounds of rain and thunderstorm, using adventurous extended-techniques. Underneath the extensive technicality that this piece demands, there is a simple artistic idea of creating an intimate connection with the uniqueness, beauty, and vibrant diversity of the natural world.”

Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85

Elgar’s Cello Concerto belongs to that category of works that, for a number of reasons, was under-appreciated at the time of its premiere, but has since become an important—if not essential—part of the solo cello/concert hall repertoire. The concerto is in four movements.

Demirjian and the orchestra will be joined by 25-year old cellist Zlatomir Fung. Receiving a Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School in 2021, Fung won first prize two years earlier at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, making him the youngest cellist ever to win the competition. Among the incredible successes so early in his career,  he was artist-in-residence with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the 2023-24 season.

Igor Stavinsky: Petrushka

Petrushka (or Pétrouchka in French) was one of three ballets that Stravinsky composed for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes—the others being the earlier The Firebird and the later The Rite of Spring. Stravinsky’s original was written for the 1911 ballet season. The concert version performed this week by the KSO is the 1946 version—published in 1947—a re-write to promote copyright coverage and to downsize the instrumentation, making it more attractive for orchestras to tackle.

After finishing The Firebird, Stravinsky found himself working on what he believed would be a small concerto-like work for piano and orchestra that he called Petrushka after the Russian folk story of a puppet character. A visit from Diaghilev, though, convinced him to develop the themes into a full-length ballet. Petrushka became a featured work for the Ballets Russes, becoming a significant calling card for the troupe’s success in Europe and the U.S.