Burt Hara to perform with QCSO

October 21, 2012
For the second concert of this year's Masterworks season, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra is performing a collection of concert hall favorites from incomparable composers Mozart and Beethoven: the Overture to The Magic Flute, Mozart's Clarinet Concert in A Major, and Beethoven's "Pastorale" Symphony. These concerts will be performed on November. 3 and 4, and are sponsored by the Charles B. Preacher Foundation. Saturday evening's concert will be held at the Adler Theatre in Davenport at 7:30 p.m., and followed on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Centennial Hall in Rock Island. Tickets for this concert can be purchased in person at the QCSO Box Office, 327 Brady Street in Davenport, by phone at 800.745.3000, or online at www.qcsymphony.com.
 
Burt Hara has been the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal clarinet for 24 years and has drawn acclaim for his solo appearances—in works of Bernstein, Copland, Debussy, Nielsen, Weber and others—and many chamber performances. In recent seasons he has been featured on Orchestra programs playing Messiaen’s Abyss of the Birds, from Quartet for the End of Time, Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and Sinfonia concertante, Bernstein’s Clarinet Sonata, and Crusell’s Second Clarinet Concerto. Before his appointment in Minnesota, Hara was principal clarinet of the Alabama Symphony. An active chamber musician, Hara has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Pensacola Chamber Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music in the Vineyards, Salt Bay Chamberfest and La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, as well as the Minnesota Orchestra’s Sommerfest.

The Quad City Symphony Orchestra is excited to provide Inside the Music at the hip and historic Hotel Blackhawk. The lectures series will still be held on the Thursday previous to each Masterworks program at 5:30 p.m. Doors will open at 5 PM with free hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar available.

Burt Hara will be offering a Clarinet Masterclass on Friday, November 2, at 4:00 p.m. in Madsen Hall at the Galvin Fine Arts Center, St. Ambrose University. This free event open to all students and community members. Please contact Rebecca Swartz at 563.322.0931 with any questions about this unique opportunity.

Music Director Mark Russell Smith will also be available at Kai Swanson's Concert Conversations, held in the concert hall an hour before each of the weekend's concerts. At Concert Conversations the audience members will be given a quick tour of highlights from the program they are about to experience. This look into the background of the concert's repertoire, sponsored by Rich James of Wells Fargo Advisors, is in its fifteenth year and has become an audience favorite.

After the Saturday night performance, the audience is invited to mingle with the musicians, Burt Hara, and Mark Russell Smith in the lobby of the Hotel Blackhawk at Afterglow. The evening includes free hors d'oeuvres, cash bar, and remarkable repartee. The November Afterglow is sponsored by Jane A. Chiappinelli, DDS.