NSPO to Perform Winter Concert Feb. 17 in Swampscott

Music Director Robert Lehmann will conduct the North Shore Philharmonic Orchestra in its Winter Concert with a program highlighted by trumpeter Joseph Foley playing the Trumpet Concert by Johann Nepomuc Hummel on Sunday, February 17, at 3 p.m. at Swampscott High School.

Antonin Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dances” and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 4 complete the program.

Tickets are $30, $25 for seniors and students, and children 12 and under are admitted free.  Tickets will be available at the door on the day of the concert and are available for advance purchase through the Orchestra’s website www.nspo.org.

Hummel’s short (under 20 minutes) but spirited concerto was composed in 1803 and is well-known for its pert rhythms and pleasant melodies.  First written for trumpets in the “pre-valve” age, it wide range and inflection and dancing quality has made it a popular staple of the classical repertoire.

Soloist Joseph Foley is well-known throughout New England as principal trumpet of both the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra.  He has performed with the Boston Pops, Boston Classical Orchestra and Boston Landmarks Orchestra and his recording “Nightsongs” earned critical praise.

Robert Schumann’s Fourth symphony is a brilliant, if controversial, example of the composer’s work.  While some considered it to contain errors in orchestration, others regarded it as daring and innovative.  Regardless of historical commentary, the work has grown to be regarded as one of the great symphonies of all time. Leonard Bernstein recorded the work with the New York Philharmonic and praised its “image of Romantic Man, the Artist-God, escaping from the treacherous earth on the aerieal currents of a masterpiece.” 

Schumann’s Fourth is today regarded as rising above the blinders and conventions of its time.

Antonin Dvorak wrote the Slavonic Dances as a series of 16 orchestral pieces in 1878 and 1866.  The NSPO will play Nos. 6, 7, and 8 of Opus 46.  Dvorak was inspired to write the dances by the work of Johannes Brahms, whose Hungarian Dances were highly regarded.

The North Shore Philharmonic Orchestra plays three subscription concerts at Swampscott High School. The 2018-2019 season marks the Orchestra’s 71st Anniversary. The Orchestra is supported in part by a grant from the Swampscott Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. For more information about the NSPO, visit the Orchestra’s website at www.nspo.org. or on Facebook.