When Chelsea Tipton II replaced conductor
Robert Spano for the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s final concert this
season, a 50th anniversary all-Gershwin spectacular, the response
from audiences and critics was overwhelmingly positive.
Now Tipton returns to lead the orchestra in its July 16 Prospect
Park band shell performance as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn
festival, the 26th consecutive year that the borough’s resident
orchestra has participated in the summer music series.
The program gives those Philharmonic fans who missed his May
debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music one more chance to hear
Maestro Tipton lead the orchestra in more Gershwin tunes; the
"An American in Paris" suite winds up the evening.
Also on the bill are Antonin Dvorak’s "Carnival Overture,"
which opens the concert, and Jacques Offenbach’s "Orpheus
in the Underworld," which precedes the Gershwin.
The program’s main work is among the most beloved and frequently
programmed of all violin concertos: Piotr Tchaikovsky’s 40-minute
emotional blitzkrieg, often scoffed at for its overzealous sentimentality,
but there’s no denying its showpiece status for orchestra and
soloist.
Making her Brooklyn Philharmonic debut as Tchaikovsky soloist
is 22-year-old violinist Tai Murray (pictured), who has dazzled
audiences all season as a member of the Chamber Music Society
of Lincoln Center II. Murray’s already-formidable technique,
coupled with Tipton’s newly created aura, should make for a memorable
musical event.
The Brooklyn Philharmonic performs Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Offenbach
and Gershwin on Saturday at 8 pm at the Prospect Park band shell.
Enter the park at Prospect Park West and Ninth Street. Admission
is free, but there’s a suggested $3 donation for Celebrate Brooklyn.
For further information, visit www.celebratebrooklyn.org
or www.brooklynphilharmonic.org.
