Heroes & Villains Concert Guide

Heroes and Villains Digital Concert Guide

Program

Notes

Mozart’s Don Giovanni is truly one of the great operas ever written, and its Overture alone is a masterpiece. Its premiere in Prague in 1787 was an ecstatic success and the opera is now a cornerstone in the repertoire for its outstanding music and exceptional lyrics by Lorenzo Da Ponte.

Mozart’s Giovanni tells the tale of the fabled but fictitious Spanish womanizer, Don Juan (Don Giovanni in Italian) who whisks through numerous romantic conquests and other adventures with his comical sidekick, Leporello. But Giovanni’s reckless ego eventually leads to his murdering the Commendatore (Knight Commander), the father of one of his seductions. The opera’s final scene brings the Commendatore back from the dead to drag the unrepentant Giovanni down into the fires of Hell.

In a career that spans five decades, John Williams has become one of America’s most accomplished and successful composers for film and for the concert stage. Mr. Williams has composed the music and served as music director for more than one hundred films. His 40-year artistic partnership with director Steven Spielberg has resulted in many of Hollywood’s most acclaimed and successful films, including Schindler’s List, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, four Indiana Jones films, Saving Private Ryan, Amistad, Munich, Hook, Catch Me If You Can, Minority Report, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Empire of the Sun, The Adventures of TinTin and War Horse.

Brendan Graham is an Irish songwriter and novelist. Among songs he has written are "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" and "The Voice", both of which won the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in their respective years, and "You Raise

Me Up", which was an international hit recorded by various artists, including Josh Groban.

In his ongoing, decades-long career as a composer, Alan Silvestri has blazed an innovative trail with his exciting and melodic scores, winning the applause of Hollywood and movie audiences the world over. With a credit list

of over 100 films Silvestri has composed some of the most recognizable and beloved themes in movie history. His efforts have been recognized with two Oscar nominations, two Golden Globe nominations, four Grammy awards, two Emmy awards, and numerous International Film Music Critics Awards, Saturn Awards, and Hollywood Music In Media Awards.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture was inspired by Heinrich von Collin’s play Coriolan, based on one of

Shakespeare’s less frequently performed tragedies, Coriolanus. Collin’s play enjoyed some success on the Viennese stage for a time after its creation in 1802, subsequently fading from view. It resurfaced for a remarkable one- night stand in 1807 at the palace of Beethoven’s patron Prince Lobkowitz – a vehicle solely for

Beethoven’s new overture. Collin’s play then sank like a stone, while Beethoven’s tremendous overture endures.

Born in 1962 in Phoenix, Arizona, Michael Abels has become one of the most sought- after and requested composers of the 21st century. Along with being appointed the Composer-in-Residence for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2025, Abels has scored some of the most-viewed films of recent decades. A frequent collaborator of filmmaker Jordan Peele, Abels has written the soundtracks for Get Out, Us, and Nope, skillfully blending his talent as a composer with the cinematic world.

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