San José Chamber Orchestra presents CONCERTO NIGHT, featuring cellist Amelia Zitoun, a winner from the 2024 International Klein String Competition performing the Boccherini G Major Cello Concerto G 480. Composed during a very happy time in Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini's life, this concerto is written in an uncomplicated, carefree manner. It is believed that Boccherini, who was the virtuoso cellist of his day, performed this concerto himself along with five other original concerti for audiences in Paris. The piece is considered to be pre-Classical, although it was written during a time in which composers such as Haydn and C. P. E. Bach began to write in the Classical style.
Also included in the program is William Susman's Zydeco Madness (2006) To the Forgotten of Hurricane Katrina. Composed for string orchestra, Zydeco Madness is a response to the tragic events surrounding the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Susman, who had lived in New Orleans for a year and a half, was horrified by the politicized reaction to the devastation. It is Creole-based music indigenous to Louisiana. Zydeco Madness, originally composed for accordion, was given its first performance in this version for strings by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra with Barbara Day Turner conducting in San Jose, California in 2009.
The program will also include Antonín Dvořák's Serenade for Strings in E major, opus 22. One of the composer’s most popular orchestral works, Serenade for Strings was composed in just two weeks in May, 1875. It consists of five movements:
I. Moderato
II. Tempo di Valse
III. Scherzo: Vivace
IV. Larghetto
V. Finale: Allegro vivac
About the Featured Artist: Amelia Zitoun, cellist: Amelia Zitoun (20 years old) is currently a freshman at the Colburn School, studying cello with Clive Greensmith. Most recently, Amilia won the 2nd prize at the 2024 Klien International String Competition. Last spring, she also was chosen as a finalist in the 2024 Concert Artists Guild competition. Amelia is the Gold Medal prize winner of the 2023 Stulberg International String Competition. She is also the winner of the 2023 Walgreens National Concerto Symphony Orchestra’s Stars of Tomorrow Competition, and the 2021 and 2023 Schubert Club Competition. As a chamber musician, she has won the silver medal at the 2023 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Gold Medal and Haydn Prize at the 2023 St. Paul String Quartet Competition.
TICKET PRICES: $15 to $75
General Admission: $75/$65
Senior: $65/$55 (ages 62 and above)
Student: $25/$15