By D’LYNN WALDRON Special to the Daily Press
The Santa Monica Symphony will strike up a chord on their new season this weekend by offering its first free concert.
On Sunday, Oct. 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, the symphony’s popular and critically acclaimed conductor and music director Allen Robert Gross will lead the evening.
The concert opens with the melodic Overture to “Ruy Blas” by the eternally romantic Felix Mendelssohn.
Next is the tone poem “Don Juan,” which describes the famed seducer’s licentious adventures, and his eventual traumatic self-revelation and suicide. This music caused a scandal in 1889 when it was called salacious, which made 24-year-old Richard Strauss an instant pop celebrity.
Today, “Don Juan” is recognized as a groundbreaking composition. It is a showpiece for a virtuoso orchestra and the Santa Monica Symphony under Gross is able to fully display its orchestral brilliance.
After the intermission, Beethoven’s lyrical Fourth Piano Concerto will feature soloist Rina Dokshitsky.
There is a pre-concert talk by UCLA Musicology Professor Raymond Knapp at 6:30 p.m. in the meeting room. This is the 61st season of Santa Monica Symphony’s concerts, which attract people of all ages from all segments of the community. Especially welcome are the school-age children brought by parents and grandparents. Admission is free to all concerts and seating is not reserved.
The concerts are held in Santa Monica’s famed Civic Auditorium, which has been host to the Oscars and is on a national preservation list.
The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium is located at 1855 Main Street, just north of Pico Boulevard. For more information, log onto www.smsymphony.org, or call (310) 996-3260.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 7, 2005. Read the original PDF.