​Claflin Hill Symphony Hurtles Toward Season Finales

From CHSO: The Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra’s 2016-17 is coming up on the last several concerts of the season, bringing to a conclusion what has been a truly artistically successful season this year.

Coming off of its March 4th “Seascapes” concert which featured music of Claude Debussy and Ralph Vaughan-Williams – a concert that saw almost 130 performers onstage, the CHSO is now preparing for its annual “Family Symphony Matinee” on Sunday, March 26, 2017.

This annual special concert event begins at 3 PM in the Milford Town Hall, and also presents the student musicians of the Claflin Hill Youth Symphonies, performing alongside of their CHSO Mentors. CHYS Concerto Competition Winner Matthew Pearl will also be the featured soloist in a movement of the Weber Clarinet Concerto with the CHSO.

The musical theme of this year’s Family Symphony Matinee is “Classical Guys Go To The Movies!” The CHSO, together with the CHYS will perform music of some of the classical masters, such as Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Bach, Borodin and Rossini – works that were used in the 20th century in numerous movies and cartoons, and through that, became more popular and recognizable to a wider audience. German composer Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkeries” was used to great acclaim in “Apocalypse Now” as well as in Bugs Bunny cartoons featuring Elmer Fudd, and even in the recent Tom Cruise movie, “Valkerie” – a movie about the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue became a centerpiece of the Disney classic “Fantasia” Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” was featured in “The Black Swan.”

“For many people who attend CHSO concerts for the first time, they are often surprised to hear something on our program that they recognize from other media sources or life experiences,” said Paul Surapine, Executive & Artistic Director of Claflin Hill. “In the years of my childhood, watching cartoons and even movies was sometimes like being exposed to a music appreciation class, but subliminally. Many people are more familiar with so-called “classical” music than they realize – much of the greatest musical masterpieces have found themselves at home in everyday life, and often, these movies generate a new interest in a certain composer, such as the movie “Amadeus” which was a biopic about Mozart, or the movie “Moonstruck” which featured great opera arias of Puccini. This concert is but a short segment of some of those works, but truthfully, we could probably program an entire season of full symphony concerts featuring music used in the movies! Not a bad idea!”

The Family Symphony Concert also features an “Instrument Petting Zoo” before and after the concert, where audience members can try out the various orchestra instruments with the help of CHSO musicians and staff from Music &Arts in Milford.

Tickets for the Family Symphony concert are $12, and $8 student/senior/veteran, and can be purchased on line at www.claflinhill.org

The Milford Town Hall is located at 52 Main Street, Downtown Milford and is fully handi-capped accessible.

Other concerts coming up in April include the season finale of the CHSO Alternatives Chamber Series at the Singh Performance Center in Whitinsville on Friday evening April 7, 2017, featuring “Paul Surapine – Family & Friends” and the season Finale of the CHSO 2016-17 – “Roadtrip” – featuring music of American composers Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, William Schuman and Lawrence Wallach on Saturday, April 29th.

Tickets for all upcoming CHSO concerts can be purchased at www.claflinhill.org.

A synopsis of the upcoming concerts follows.

Concert V CHSO Family Symphony Matinee

Sunday, March 26, 2017 ~ 3:00 PM

Claflin Hill’s annual Sunday afternoon Family Concert, featuring a “Side-By-Side” performance of the CHSO and the Claflin Hill Youth Orchestra. A great “first symphony” outing for young children, but a great afternoon of music for all ages as well!! Featuring great classical music used in the movies!

Instrument Petting Zoo before and after the concert.

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Concert VI “Road Trip”

Saturday, April 29, 2017

William Schuman: New England Triptych

Barber: Knoxville, Summer of 1915

Featuring Alesia Tringale, Soprano

Wallach: Berkshire Rhapsody, World Premiere

Copland: Appalachian Spring

Climb into the CHSO “Winnebago” for a musical sojourn starting in our own beautiful New England, and traveling through some of the most beautiful vistas in our country, from New England, through our own Berkshires into the Appalachians, Blue Ridge Mountains into the Tennessee Valley. Music of Copland, Schuman, Wallach, Barber and more provide a vivid tonal colorscape to bring our natural wonders to life.

The Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra

Chamber Series at Alternatives

2016-2017 Season

All concerts at 7:30 PM in the Singh Performance Center

Concert III

Friday, April 7, 2017

“Paul Surapine – Family and Friends”

CHSO Founder and Director Paul Surapine on Clarinet, brings together a showcase of great music for clarinet, piano and other chamber music combinations, featuring his son Zachary on violin, his sister Beth on piano and a lineup of great friends from the CHSO. Music of Bach, Brahms, Milhaud, Khachaturian, Rachmoninoff and more.