Annual "Spectacular" Concert in a Spectacular Setting
June 3, 2019 - The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra's 2019 "Independence Day Spectacular!" Concert will enjoy a new, yet venerable venue this year. The orchestra will perform outdoors on the Great Lawn of the Big Trees Lodge (formerly, the Wawona Hotel) in Yosemite National Park on Saturday, June 29 at 7:00 P.M. This concert is offered through the MSO's partnership with the National Park Service and Yosemite Hospitality, a division of Aramark. The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra is a program of the Mariposa County Arts Council, Inc. The initial, main building of the Big Trees Lodge was built in 1876, the year of America's Centennial.
The Big Trees Lodge, photo courtesy of Yosemite Hospitality
MSO Founder/Conductor Les Marsden has programmed an all-American concert featuring works from some of this country's greatest composers, well-known and little-known. In that latter category, two of Louis Moreau Gottschalk's complex piano works have been orchestrated into orchestral showpieces by Marsden: "The Union" and "Marche des Gibaros - Souvenir de Porto Rico." The MSO concert commemorates two of that composer's anniversary years: the 190th of his birth and 150th of his death. New Orleans-born Gottschalk (1829 - 1869) was America's first great piano virtuoso - considered by many to be the superior of Liszt, Chopin and Thalberg. European-trained, at a young age he was proclaimed "The King of Pianists" by Chopin himself and became an international rock star of his time, the toast of crowned heads and the common man alike. In his brief lifetime, he performed a grueling number of concerts extensively throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas, including a remarkable number of concerts during the American Civil War in patriotic support of the Union. He created the concept of "monster concerts" in which as many as 700 musicians would be massed on a stage; he composed well over 300 works, many today lost. An alleged incident in San Francisco involving an underage girl from an influential family led to his fleeing the US in late 1865, spending his final few years in South and Central America. "The Union" is a clever potboiler of well-known tunes including "The Star-Spangled Banner," "Yankee Doodle" and "Columbia." "Marche des Gibaros" is a ground-breaking work in which Gottschalk quotes a Puerto Rican Christmas tune as well as several distinct and irresistible Caribbean/African rhythms including the Spanish-Cuban Habanera, a half-century before those influences would form the inspiration for jazz. The piece is included on the MSO concert in observation of 2017's Hurricane Maria, which devastated the American territory of Puerto Rico.
Far more familiar music will include a pair of American icons: 1942's "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) and a piece not necessarily recognizable by name, but familiar through its effective use in the 1979 space thriller film "Alien": the Second ("Romantic") Symphony by Howard Hanson (1896-1981) composed in 1930. An astonishing, beautiful, haunting and ultimately thrilling work, John Williams has acknowledged that Hanson's "Romantic" Symphony inspired the film composer's score for the 1982 film "E.T." and at times, the resemblance (especially in E.T.'s "flying" music) is remarkable. The concert will also feature traditional patriotic music and more.
The MSO's 2019 "Independence Day Spectacular!" Concert outdoors at the Big Trees Lodge (Wawona Hotel) in Yosemite National Park will be free of charge and attendees are advised to bring blankets to spread on the lawn for seating. The Big Trees Lodge is located on Wawona Road (the continuation of Highway 41 inside Yosemite) approximately five miles north of the South (41) Entrance. This concert is made possible by the generous cooperation and assistance of Michael Reynolds – Superintendent of Yosemite National Park, the National Park Service, Yosemite Hospitality – a division of Aramark and the musicians of the Mariposa Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to the free symphonic concert under the stars in Yosemite, the Big Trees Lodge will offer its Saturday BBQ just steps away from the performance area from 5:00 P.M. - 7:00 P.M. on the evening of the 7:00 P.M. concert. The all-inclusive price is $23 for adults and $13 for children (3-12) with the meal free for those under 3.
Full information about the Big Trees Lodge BBQ including menu may be found at: travelyosemite.com/lodging/dining/big-trees-lodge. Contact the Mariposa County Arts Council at (209) 966-3155 for more information; full detailed program notes will be posted on the Arts Council's website soon.
Source: MSO
