‘One World’s two concerts’

    

In another instance of the Magpie Mason wishing he could be in two places simultaneously to enjoy a concert and a lecture, tomorrow offers the almost painful choice of attending either Atlas-Pythagoras Lodge to hear Bro. Trevor Stewart, or visiting St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church for the One World Symphony’s performance, featuring Bro. Michael Crane.


Fortunately, Trevor will speak again Saturday night at St. John’s Lodge, and Michael will perform again Sunday night at the Church of the Holy Apostles. Still I want to attend them all!

Crane is a member of Kane Lodge No. 454 of the Fourth Manhattan District. He will perform Sergei Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 4 (For the Left Hand), Op. 53. Composed in 1931 (debuted in 1956), Prokofiev dedicated this piece to pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in World War I. The calamities and horrors of war appear to be the unifying theme of the program for these two concerts, which begin One World Symphony’s tenth anniversary season.

The other performances:

John Lennon: Imagine (1971), the world premiere of the orchestral arrangement by Andrew Struck-Marcell.

Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs (1948), the composer’s final work, musical meditations on the destruction wrought on his country during World War II.

Olivier Messiaen: From Quartet for the End of Time (1941), was composed while Messiaen was a prisoner of war, this piece was premiered in Stalag VIII-A to an audience of 5,000 POWs. This performance will be the world premiere of new orchestration by Sung Jin Hong.

Dmitri Shostakovich: Four Songs, Op. 86 (1951), was written at the request of Yevgeni Dolmatovsky for a play that needed an “aeronautical beacon,” or songs for a pilot to sing to help him navigate through the Alps. This will be the world premiere of orchestration by Eric Lemmon.

Sung Jin Hong: Eye of the Storm (for audience and symphony) (2010), another world premiere, inspired by traditional Korean drumming, pulsates with his personal experiences at the Demilitarized Zone. Commissioned by West Village Concerts.

Dates, times, and other information:

Friday, September 17 at 8 p.m.
St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church
157 Montague St. in Brooklyn Heights

Sunday, September 19 at 7 p.m.
Church of the Holy Apostles
296 Ninth Ave. (at West 28th Street) in Manhattan

Tickets:
$30 students/seniors with ID
$40 general

Proceeds will benefit One World Symphony’s Community Music Program, which enables students and parents, who otherwise would not be in a position to afford classical concerts, to obtain tickets to live performances of One World Symphony’s season.

Each concert is estimated to run an hour and 40 minutes, with an intermission.