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Posted: 4/20/17

LPO Concert Season Closes on High Note Sunday at LCC

 

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A season of song comes to an end Sunday, April 23  

This Sunday at 3 p.m., the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra’s 37th Season, “Music of Peace, Joy & Love,”  ends with a final concert  “Jubilant Beauty” at the Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center on the Laredo Community College Ft. McIntosh Campus. 

Tickets are $20 for adults, while students are invited free of charge with Student ID. Tickets can purchased at the door, or via the Laredo Phil website at www.laredophil.com.  For more information, contact Angeline Townsend at laredophilharmonic@gmail.com

Rachmaninov’s incredibly inspired and best-known work – the Second Piano Concerto in C minor Op. 18 – will be the highlight of a concert sure to delight all musical tastes. It will be performed by 21-year-old Laredo pianist, Enrique Rangel, winner of the Laredo Concerto Competition. 

“This season was inspired as a musicians’ response to some terrible world events,” said Brendan Townsend, music director of the Laredo Phil, when he announced the season last summer. 

“Remember the old saying ‘Make love, not war?,’” he continued, “well musicians say: ‘Make music, not war,’ and that is what we have been doing all season.” 

Sunday’s concert at LCC’s Martinez Fine Arts Center will open joyfully with music of Von Suppe, followed by the triumphant Egmont Overture of Beethoven, and music inspired by nature of Bohemia with a tone poem by Smetana. 

A central moment in the concert will be a performance of Barber’s Adagio for Strings – a piece known to almost everyone from its many uses in films, and in performances at times of national mourning. 

“This is where we all – both musicians and audience – can take a moment to reflect on all the tragedies that led to creating the theme for this season,” said Townsend, who will conduct the concert with his usual passion and energy. 

Movie-goers will also be familiar with the music of Rachmaninov. The Second Piano Concerto – which Rangel will perform – has been used frequently in films such as  the 1945 film “Brief Encounter,” the 2014 film “Mozart in the Jungle,” and many movies in between. It is music of rich melodic lines and passionate displays of brilliance.