Sound confusing? The Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra will make it all crystal clear at its October concert – Breaking Bad: Colourful Characters in Music. The concert is sponsored by the Rotary Club of North Scarborough.
“Bad characters” have become popular in television and film (think Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Madmen, and more). But the theme is hardly unique – classical composers have featured dark characters for a long time. The SPO’s October concert will shed some light into the darkness.
The concert will open with Mozart’s famous Don Giovanni Overture. Alexander Rapoport has been commissioned by the SPO to compose If Elvira Hadn’t Arrived in Time, Variations on Mozart’s “La ci darem la mano,” for narrator and orchestra – a humorous variation on the Don Giovanni story used in Mozart’s opera. Dr. Rapoport will be serving as the SPO’s composer-in-residence this season and is a music professor for the University of Toronto (both the Scarborough and St. George campus).
Other performances include Pablo de Sarasate’s virtuosic Carmen Fantasy for violin and orchestra (based on Bizet’s opera) featuring young violinist Artur Chakhmakhchyan. Debussy’s sensual Syrinx for solo flute will be performed by the SPO principal Lesley Duff, in commemoration of her 30th year with the orchestra. Igor Stravinsky’s ballet masterpiece, Petroushka (a puppet gone bad), is a highly descriptive work that has influenced film composers for decades.
The concert will end with music for one of the most memorable of “breaking bad” characters – Darth Vader – highlighted in John Williams’ The Imperial March from Star Wars V.
Breaking Bad: Colourful Characters in Music
October 24, 2015, 8:00 p.m.
Salvation Army Scarborough Citadel, 2021 Lawrence Avenue East (at Warden)
