Tagged: The Philadelphia Orchestra

This Sunday on WRTI, Carl Orff's iconic Carmina burana headlines a program that also features The Philadelphia Orchestra's Principal Trumpet David Bilger in a performance of Hummel's beloved Trumpet Concerto, as well as Haydn's rarely performed  Symphony No. 1. Sunday, March 17, 2 to 4 pm.

Guest Conductor Rafael Fruehbeck de Bourgos, who knew Carl Orff and gave the first performance of Carmina burana in Spain, will direct The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Philadelphia Singers,  the American Boychoir, and soloists in this authoritative performance from February at the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall.  

Orff's raucous retelling of 24 medieval poems praises springtime, love, lust, and fortune. It requires a huge orchestra and a chorus singing a mix of old languages. The riveting choral refrains of "O Fortuna" open and close Carmina burana. While many sections of this iconic work have been re-used in movies and commercials, nothing equals the power when you hear this live, in its entirety.

Intermission Features:

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Conductor
David Bilger, Trumpet

Program Notes for Carmina burana and more...

Check out The Philadelphia Orchestra Website Here

PROGRAM:
HAYDN: Symphony No. 1 in D major
I. Presto
II. Andante
III. Finale: Presto

HUMMEL: Trumpet Concerto in E major
I. Allegro con spirito
II. Andante
III. Rondo

Intermission, featuring a conversation with Maestro Fruehbeck

ORFF: Carmina burana
Erin Morley: Soprano
Nicholas Phan: Tenor
Hugh Russell: Baritone
The Philadelphia Singers Chorale
David Hayes, Music Director
The American Boychoir
Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, Music Director

A new biography reveals what it was like to be the first woman to enter the all-male sanctum of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1930. WRTI’s Meridee Duddleston discovered the powerful combination of talent and fear.

On September 14, 1930, the headline of the Philadelphia Public Ledger read: "Solo Harpist to Be First Girl in Philadelphia Orchestra." A young Edna Phillips entered the single-sex fortress of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1930 - a year after pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff called it "the finest orchestra the world has ever heard." She’d played the harp for only five years when she was hired as the first female member and principal harpist.  Her "musicalité" may have been obvious to the pioneering Leopold Stokowski, but was she ready? What was it like to be the only woman among men at a time when gender equality and workplace mores were far different from what they are today?

Author Mary Sue Welsh worked with the observant, warm, and funny Phillips on her story during Phillips’ lifetime, completing it after the first harpist’s death in 2003.  True to Phillips’ desire, it’s as much about the challenges and triumphs of her own life, as about how the Orchestra grew and responded to its conductors - particularly Leopold Stokowski.