As the Sun Valley Summer Symphony's new summer home pavilion nears completion, music director Alasdair Neale is preparing for an exciting summer of performances.
As an educational and informational warm-up for the Sun Valley Summer Symphony's performance of Tchaikovsky's final symphony, No. 6 in B Minor, Opus 74, "Pathétique," Neale will hold a talk at the Community Library in Ketchum on Tuesday, June 17, at 6:30 p.m.
The performance of Tchaikovsky's "Pathétique" will take place on Sunday, Aug. 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the new Sun Valley pavilion. The two and a half-hour performance will include a 15-minute intermission.
"I am performing it because it is one of the great symphonies of all time," Neale said. "It is unusual because it is an emotionally devastating piece to perform because it does not have a happy ending and that is unusual for a symphony."
The symphony ends and begins in darkness, said Neale, which pushes an emotional limit in music. It is a large piece and has never been performed in Sun Valley.
"It takes a great deal of emotion from me and the players," Neale said. "We have to bare our souls in a lot of ways."
Neale will use the talk to discuss the scope and breadth of the Tchaikovsky's work. The symphony was Tchaikovsky's final completed work, which premiered only several days before he died in 1893. The composer put his entire being into the completion of the four-movement symphony, and its Russian title means passionate or emotional.
"This is what classical music can do and many other forms of music cannot," Neale. "It can explore aspects of the human condition in a way that covers a wide range of emotion, and it reminds us that life is not a bowl of cherries."
Neale said he has subconsciously resisted playing this piece, but it does expose what the art form of classical music can do. The talks at the Community Library are a means of taking away the mythical barrier, which exists between the stage and the audience said Neale.
"It's part of our mission to educate the audience," Neale said. "Hopefully, I will be able to provide insight into one of the greatest symphonies ever written."
Join the Sun Valley Symphony music director, Alsadair Neale, for a lecture on Tchaikovsky’s final symphony, "Pathétique," at the Community Library.
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