By Khalida Sarwari
Henry Mollicone just couldn’t stay away. After resigning from the Winchester Orchestra last year, the composer and pianist will be joining his successor, new maestro Michael DiGiacinto, on stage in the South Bay for a pair of concerts May 16-17.
It’ll be the first joint performance for the composers.
“The nice thing about it is we both like each other and we both get along really well,” said Mollicone, a Saratoga resident who founded the Winchester Orchestra 15 years ago.
Both composers have prepared an array of stunning pieces for the two evenings. Audiences are sure to find the music “dramatic, melodic and beautiful,” Mollicone said.
DiGiacinto will conduct Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2, while Mollicone will conduct Friedrich von Flotow’s overture to his comic opera “Martha,” as well as Pietro Mascagni’s “Interlude” from his opera “Cavalleria Rusticano,” Ruggero Leoncavallo’s “Interlude” from his opera “I Pagliacci” and Ravel’s “Bolero.”
Winchester Orchestra is an independent nonprofit community orchestra that aims to bring classical music in an innovative and affordable manner to the community. The group named itself after Winchester Boulevard, the location of their first performance, said Mollicone.
After Mollicone resigned early in 2014 to focus on his compositions, DiGiacinto, a composer, pianist and professor at San Jose State University, came on board as the orchestra’s new music director in the fall.
“I was there for so many years, I thought it was time to step aside,” Mollicone said. Nevertheless, he said he misses the orchestra and that he looks forward to returning to perform with it once in awhile, “as long as that’s OK with the new musical director.”
“I admire his musicianship; he’s really a fine musician,” he said of DiGiacinto, who also serves as the musical director for the orchestra and opera theater at San Jose State University.
The concerts take place on May 16, 7:30 p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 81 N. Second St., San Jose; and on May 17, 3 p.m., at the West Valley College Theater, 14000 Fruitvale Ave., Saratoga.
Tickets are $20 general admission, $15 for seniors and $10 for students. Children under 13 get in for free with a paying adult. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door. In addition, there is a parking fee of $5 at Trinity and $3 at WVC.
For more information, call 408.866.5302 or email winchester@pacbell.net. To learn more about Winchester Orchestra, visit winchesterorchestra.com.
Link: Mollicone teams with DiGiacinto to lead the Winchester Orchestra
