This week’s Symphonies of Iowa features The Quad City Symphony Orchestra and their “French Moderns” concert.
What better forces to pair up than music and art? The Figge Art Museum in Davenport and The Quad City Symphony Orchestra partnered up last fall to create a celebration of “French Moderns.”
The Quad City Symphony Orchestra kicked off their portion of the celebration with their Masterworks I performance of “French Moderns.” Their “tribute to the French Modern aesthetic” showcases music from Debussy, Mussorgsky, and Ravel. The Quad City Symphony Orchestra’s performance includes Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Nocturnes, and Syrinx for flute solo. Debussy “developed a highly original system of harmony and musical structure that expressed in many respects the ideals to which the Impressionist and Symbolist painters and writers of his time aspired.”
John McMurtery joins the Quad City Symphony Orchestra for Debussy’s Syrinx for solo flute. Dr. McMurtey is currently section flutist of the New York City Opera Orchestra, principal flutist of the Peoria Symphony, and professor of flute at Western Illinois University. He earned his DMA from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Julius Baker, Robert Langevin, and Jeanne Baxtresser.
The Figge Art Museum’s exhibit “French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850-1950” was the inspiration for today’s concert and featured artwork that showed the transformation from realism to impressionism over the course of 100 years.
PROGRAM
DEBUSSY Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
DEBUSSY Nocturnes
DEBUSSY Syrinx for Solo Flute
MUSSORGSKY/RAVEL Pictures at an Exhibition
Special Appearances
John McMurtery, flute
Jon Hurty, Director
