GUEST COLUMN: Dance with the Chamber Orchestra this weekend

Don’t be surprised if there is dancing in the aisles at the next Chamber Orchestra of the Springs concert series.  The theme of this series is dance and the Latin beats may have you not only tapping your toes, but grabbing a partner to dance.

Aaron Copland is best known for his iconic American works:“Rodeo” and“Fanfare for the Common Man” are arguably two of his most famous works. Copland’s travels to Mexico provided the inspiration for the “Three Latin American Sketches” that open this February concert series.  Copland composed two Mexican pieces, “Paisaje Mexicano” and “Danza de Jalisco,”and later added a third Venezuelan piece,  “Estribillo.”  “The tunes, the rhythms, and the temperament of the pieces are folksy, while the orchestration is bright and snappy and the music sizzles along—or least it seems to me that it does,” wrote Copland.

Once again, Thomas Wilson brings another work for small orchestra by neo-classical composer Igor Stravinsky to Colorado Springs audiences. “Danses Concertantes” was commissioned for a Los Angeles area orchestra. Within two years, the piece was staged as a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine. The music will inspire the audience to not only feel the dance rhythms, but also visualize the gestures and poses of ballet.

Two instruments, more known for being at the back of the orchestra, are brought to the front to perform music composed by Claude Debussy and Ney Rosauro.  Emerging harp virtuoso, Matthew Tutsky, joins the orchestra for Debussy’s “Danses sacrée et profane “(Sacred and Profane Dances) for harp and strings. Debussy uses modal harmonies and a quiet, but stately melody to evoke a musical sacred space. The “Danse profane” uses a triple meter and capricious interplay between harp and strings to create the “profane” love of nature and earthly existence. Tutsky, now principal harpist for the Boise Philharmonic Orchestra, has played in prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall in the New York City area.

Ney Rosauro’s “Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra” brings COS principal percussionist, Carl Cook to the front of the orchestra for the local premiere of this thrilling piece. This unusual concerto contains four movements, which follow the traditional fast-slow-fast concerto pattern, but with a medium tempo third movement inserted before a rousing finale.  Brazilian motifs and jazz elements combined with the timbre of the marimba and the many possibilities of modern four-mallet technique make this piece sparkle with sheer virtuosic excitement.

This whole concert is so alive with Latin rhythms and jazzy melodies, it will be no surprise when the person next to you turns and asks, “Shall We Dance?”