This weekend the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra blows a warm wind into the Performing Arts Centre with its concert Spring Breezes.
The OSO is welcoming the Vancouver Symphony’s principal oboist Roger Cole who will perform Richard Strauss’ Oboe Concerto, a piece that opens with warmth, charm and beauty, moving into sweet and lyrical tempo and closes with a bright witty finale, said the OSO’s maestra Rosemary Thomson.
“Those attending will hear classical and familiar pieces as well as music that may be new to them,” added OSO general manager Scott Wilson.
Cole has been principal oboist of the Vancouver Symphony and the CBC Radio Orchestra since 1976. He performs regularly in solo and chamber music recitals and has appeared as soloist with the VSO and the CBC Vancouver Orchestra. He has recorded a CD for CBC records entitled The Expressive Oboe.
The other three musical pieces the OSO will perform in this concert represent romantic melodies, warm sunshine days and innocence, said Thomson.
Mozart’s Serenade for Wind Octet in C Minor is an extraordinary, carefully crafted piece, cast in the composers favoured key for intense, dramatic works, while Pastorale d’été, written by Swiss composer Arthur Honegger, is described as embracing the summer dawn with solo wind instruments and string orchestra giving it a light, transparent sound for the audience.
Closing the concert is Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 in C Major, K. 425 Linz, a piece full of energy for the audience with a breather of serene sweetness and a cheerful finale, said Thomson.
Spring Breezes takes place Sunday at 7 p.m. in the Vernon Performing Arts Centre. Tickets are at the Ticket Seller, 250-549-7469, ticketseller.ca.
