Oberlin College and Conservatory prepares to bid farewell to the spring semester with its final orchestra concert of the year. On Friday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. in Finney Chapel, the Oberlin Orchestra, under the direction of Raphael Jimenez, will perform an exciting program meant to be symbolic of this school year. The concert will feature Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Shulamit Ran’s Violin Concerto, with concerto competition winner Maya Irizarry Lambright as the soloist.
While this is the first time Oberlin will perform Scheherazade, the orchestra has previously tackled Ran’s Violin Concerto, having played it in 2017 with concerto competition winner Christa Cole. Now a faculty member in the conservatory’s music theory department, Cole has supported Lambright during rehearsals, attending every session with Lambright’s teacher, Sibbi Bernhardsson. Lambright acknowledged Cole’s guidance, saying, “Professor Cole has been of tremendous help throughout this process. She has helped me navigate this piece and its integration with the orchestra.”
Ran, an Israeli composer, often incorporates elements of Jewish music into her works. The concerto, completed in 2003, differs from many traditional violin concertos, and its use of celesta and dense wind and percussion parts lends it a unique character. The concerto’s irregular time signatures and tonal fluctuations create a dynamic and engaging musical landscape. Lambright’s favorite part occurs between the second and third movements: “The entire orchestra is playing at the culmination of the second movement—it’s loud, exciting, and intense—but then it ends suddenly, leaving just the solo violin, and that’s when the third movement begins. It’s very intimate and personal, like a monologue, before being interrupted by the clarinet trills.”
The second half of the concert will feature Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1888 composition Scheherazade. This well-known work is often played alongside the composer’s Capriccio Espagnol and draws inspiration from the stories of One Thousand and One Nights. Highlights of the performance include the copious
clarinet solos by Alex Swers, Ben Seah’s exuberant violin solos, and Michael Bridges’s virtuosic cello cadenza. The audience will easily be able to identify two distinct characteristics of Russian music during this time: Colorful orchestration and hints of middle eastern music.
Overall, this concert is a thoughtful, well-balanced program, serving as a poetic farewell to this year’s senior class. Ran’s Violin Concerto reminds us of the complexities of life, while Scheherazade transports us to a fantastical world. Oberlin has provided the community with terrific concerts thus far, so be sure to make it to the final one of this school year.
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