By Brooklynn Wong
The Orange County Wind Symphony (OCWS), Anaheim’s semi-professional wind symphony in residence, again tickled the ears of its faithful patrons and kicked off its 2018-2019 season last Sunday night at Servite High School, with a program entitled “Chamber Music for Winds.”
Dr. Anthony P. Mazzaferro conducts the wind symphony and he lectured for the half hour preceding the show about the genesis of the show, and the background of its pieces and composers.
Mazzaferro is an accomplished conductor, who has taught at numerous universities and has played tuba for bands and orchestras throughout the state.
His dozen musicians then took the stage. These included individuals playing flute, piccolo, bassoon, oboe, horn, clarinet and trumpet.
First up was “Old Wine in New Bottles” by the English composer Gordon Jacob. In this piece, Jacob reworks four English folk songs. Jacob is a well-known composer in England and in the wind literature niche.
Mozart’s 25-minute-long “Serenade in E flat Major” rounded out the first act. Mazzaferro gave historical context for the piece, including that Mozart wrote it in 1781, a time in his life when he began a close friendship with Franz Joseph Haydn. This serenade was composed for a house party at the home of a court painter. Serenades were typically performed outdoors at night. A guest at the party was to be Joseph von Strack, personal cellist to Emperor Joseph II. Mozart wanted to impress him in hopes that he would make mention of him to the emperor.
The emperor, however, preferred popular ballet and opera music to new compositions, so Mozart’s piece never made it to court, but went over well at the house party, so much so that the musicians were taken to perform to two more parties that same night.
Following intermission, the final piece of the evening was Arthur Bird’s “Suite in D Major.” Bird was an American composer who lived during the late 19th century, but spent most of his professional life in Europe. He has never been widely known in the United States. Bird became a friend and mentee of Franz Liszt.
However in 1888, Bird married a wealthy widow in Germany and his composition pace was never what it had been before.
One of the movements of the Suite featured an especially impressive performance by flutists Stephanie Getz and Danielle Leone.
The musicians played all pieces beautifully. The OCWS has a bit of a way to go to work out some kinks in its presentation to give a seamless and sophisticated performance, but their shows always make for a fun night out in the community.
A gala performance is happening on Sept. 30. After that, the various divisions of the Orange County Symphony will have performances in October and November, through the holiday season and into next spring. See ocsymphony.org.
