Culver City Symphony Plays “American Beat”

The Culver City Symphony will present “American Beat” Saturday, Jan. 30 at  8 P.M. in the Veterans Memorial Auditorium at 4117 Overland Avenue, at Culver Boulevard. Free parking, entrance from Culver Boulevard.

American Beat, the  Music of the Americas is the pulse, the rhythm, which propels music regardless of style or origin. Classical Music of North, Central, and South America all share roots in European musical styles and structures. Each region, and its composers, are then influenced by their surrounding culture. All of the works on the program have their own distinct personality.

North America is represented by three American composers-Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Charles Fernandez; Central America is represented a Mexican composer-Silvestre Reveultas; and South America is represented by a Brazilian composer – Heitor Villa-Lobos.

Some composers, such as Barber and Fernandez, chose to look to their immediate regions for inspiration. New England for Barber; and Louisiana and Southern California for Fernandez.

New York native Copland looked outside the United States to Latin America for inspiration.

Revueltas innately used Mexican and Aztec influences to color his composition which looked back to Europe for inspiration with his homage to a murdered Spanish poet.

Brazilian sensibilities infused Villa-Lobos works, and for certain works he looked to the German Master Johann Sebastian Bach for inspiration.

This concert celebrates American composers who found inspiration, and the Beat, close to home, or sought it in far off lands while retaining their footing in their native lands.

The program will feature Villa-Lobos (Brasil): Bachianas Brasileiras, No. 1 (1932),Arranged for String Orchestra (2009)- Matthew Hetz (U.S.) (Premiere Performance), Charles Fernandez (U.S.): Elegy for Oboe and Strings (1998), Linda Margeridge-Oboe ;Copland (U.S.): 3 Latin American Sketches (1972) ; Revueltas (Mexico): Homenaje a Federico Garcia Lorca (1936) ; Barber (U.S.): Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1940), Stirling Trent-Violin.

Meet the Maestro, 7 p.m. pre-concert talk with Maestro Fetta, open to Symphony Society members only. Membership is available at the concert.

Funding comes from The Westchester Symphony Society, Inc., through membership; Parness Young Artists Fund; corporate and individual donations; and the Recording Companies of the United States and Canada Fund, through the Music Performance Trust Fund, Local 47, American Federation of Musicians. The City of Culver City provides the rehearsal and performance spaces.

This performance is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Culver City Performing Arts Grant Program Fund with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment.

There is no admission charge for this concert. Restricted late seating.

The Actors' Gang

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