RSO Concert Will Set Holiday Season Tone

RIDGEFIELD —  The Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra will set the tone for the holiday season with a concert fusing festive and reflective conducted by Music Director Gerald Steichen. “Carnival to Country” will be performed Saturday, December 6, at 8 pm, at Ridgefield High School, 700 North Salem Road.

The concert program opens with Hector Berlioz’s expansive and boisterous Overture: Roman Carnival, followed by Richard Strauss’s Concerto for Oboe, an introspective work featuring soloist Dorothy Darlington, principal oboe with RSO. Ludwig van Beethoven’s idyllic Symphony No. 6 or “The Pastoral” will invite reflection as it concludes the evening’s performance.

The “Oboe Concerto in D Minor” was one of the last works Richard Strauss composed in 1945 near the end of his life; he was inspired by an American G.I. who was among the liberating forces after World War II. In civilian life John de Lancie was an oboist with the Pittsburgh Orchestra, and he asked Strauss to write a piece for oboe.

“The oboe concerto is the showpiece for an oboist,” said Mr Steichen, “and Dorothy Darlington is such a talented musician that we wanted to feature her.

“One of the goals of the RSO is to showcase clear standouts – people of the orchestra whom we can highlight,” Mr Steichen added.

Tickets are $25 to $50 for adults, $15 to $30 children. More information, tickets and directions are available at RidgefieldSymphony.org or by calling 203-438-3889.