2008 Concerto/Aria Competition winners to perform with orchestra

The University of Southern Maine’s Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra will present its final concert of the season on April 19, featuring the winners of the 2008 Concerto/Aria Competition. They are Jason Giacomazzo of Augusta, saxophone; George Eisenhauer of Camden, tenor; Micah Maurio of Woodland, flugelhorn; and Ian Scott of Madison, Wis., piano.

Judges were Charles Dimmick, concertmaster of the Portland Symphony Orchestra; Lisa Saffer, nationally known opera singer; and Chiharu Naruse, faculty at the Portland Conservatory, and a concert pianist.

The orchestra, conducted by Robert Lehmann, will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 19, 2008 in Gorham Middle School. Tickets are $6 for the general public, $3 for students. Call 780-5555 for reservations.

The concert will open with Estonian composer Arvo Part's “Third Symphony.” Pärt is often identified with the school of composition known as minimalism, more specifically, "mystic minimalism" or "sacred minimalism" along with contemporaries Henryk Górecki and John Tavener. The spirit of early European polyphony is a fundamental part of Pärt's compositional style in his ‘Third Symphony’ of 1971. He immersed himself in early music, re-investigating the roots of western music, studied plainsong, Gregorian chant, and the emergence of polyphony in the Renaissance. 

“He was a very interesting character,” says Lehmann. “He had three different compositional styles over the years. The most enduring style is the one that has made him the most popular – a very tonal, homogenous style deeply influenced by his religious and spiritual beliefs. In this work you will hear contemplation, a quest for spiritual fulfillment, and a nod to the music of the past.”

The second half of the program will feature the winners of the Concerto/Aria Competition who will perform the solo parts of a variety of works with the full orchestra.

Jason Giacomazzo of Augusta, saxophone, a student of Bill Street, will perform Jacques Ibert’s “Concertino da Camera, for saxophone and chamber orchestra.”

George Eisenhauer of Camden, tenor, a student of Bruce Fithian, will perform Lenski’s aria, from “Eugene Onegin” by Peter Ilitch Tchaikovsky.

Micah Maurio of Woodland, flugelhorn, a student of Betty Rines, will play the third movement of Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Concerto in C Major for cello and orchestra” arranged for flugelhorn.

Ian Scott of Madison, Wis., piano, a graduate student of Laura Kargul, will end the concert with a performance of the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Concerto No. 5, in E-flat Major, Op. 73, the ‘Emperor’.”