Nick Finch is leading the Derby City Chamber Music Festival in a spring concert focused on music of the late-romantic era — think late-19th and early-20th century time frame. This is a time when music was going through profound changes with Richard Wagner's ambitious operas encompassing all art, to the patriarch of "serialism" Arnold Schoenberg's eventual dismantling of traditional harmony.
The latter's Chamber Symphony, Op. 9, isn't the Schoenberg you may be thinking of. It's a work steeped in lush, elaborate and expansive tonal harmony. It pushes the boundaries gently. Richard Wagner's Siegfriend Idyll is a loving tribute to the composers' wife Cosima and new-born son Siegfried. The other other work tying the program together is the prelude to Capriccio, Richard Strauss' last opera from 1942.
The concert is Thursday, March 12th, 7:30pm at Comstock Hall. Free, but reservations and donations are encouraged.
