Summer 2024 Concerts
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"From Italy, with Love"
at Westminster Presbyterian Church
Sunday, June 2nd at 3pm
To Be Announced
at Benson Great Hall
Sunday, September 22nd at 2pm
From Italy, with Love
June 2nd at 3pm
1200 Marquette Avenue
Minneapolis MN 55403
The Program:
Sinfonia Avanti II Barcheggio - Alessandro Stradella
Suite from the Ballet Pulcinella - Igor Stravinsky
Symphony No. 4 in A, Op. 90 (Italian) - Felix Mendelssohn
The Artists:
Jere Lantz - Conductor
Marissa Benedict - Trumpet
The Orchestra of The Classical Music Project
$50 Premium Seating / $20 General Seating
To purchase tickets, click the button below
or call the Dakota Box Office at 612-332-JAZZ (5299).
Optional Parking Is Available in the Westminster Garage for $10.
(Enter garage from Alice Rainville Place.)
About the Concert:
"From Italy, with Love" is all about the influences that Italian culture has had on both music and perceptions of romance.
About the Program:
Stradella influenced a generation of cohorts, but succumbed after multiple assassination attempts commissioned by jealous husbands to a fatal revenge. Stravinsky's offering animates a folkloric clown of love (Pulcinella) to create havoc before he and his band of romantics all wed in an avalanche of devotion. And Mendelssohn, experiencing Italy for the first time, is so overcome as to lose the ability to speak, and instead writes The Italian, which requires flying fingers of steel to perform.
About the Artists:
Jere Lantz, Conductor
Jere Lantz retired recently from two major posts: Artistic Director of the Rochester Symphony, a post he held for 42 years, and Music Director of the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra, which he served for 36 years. He remains Music Director of the Minnetonka Choral Society. Earlier in his career, while serving as Assistant Music Director of the Minnesota Opera, he became Founding Music Director of the Minnesota Opera Touring Company. He has also served as Music Director of the Kenwood Chamber Orchestra, St. Cloud Symphony and Minneapolis Chamber Symphony. Lantz has guest conducted the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Oratorio Society, Bach Society, Minnesota Chorale and Music St Croix. He received his undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees from Yale University.
Beyond Minnesota, Lantz has directed the orchestras from coast to coast, including St. Louis, Rochester (NY), Kansas City, Santa Cruz, Huntsville, Syracuse, Indianapolis, Shreveport, Tucson and Chattanooga, as well as in Latin America, Europe and Asia, where he was named Permanent Guest Conductor of the Wuhan (China) Symphony. He has served on advisory councils to the Minnesota State Arts Board, Minnesota Public Radio, and the Conductors Guild of the League of American Orchestras. Known for delighting audiences with “the story behind the music,” Maestro Lantz has written notes for hundreds of programs and appeared frequently in media of all sorts.
Marissa Benedict, Trumpet
Marissa Benedict is the Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She continues to recruit and give master classes as well as performances throughout the Twin Cities and across the US.
Before her assignment in Minnesota, she was a freelance trumpet player in Los Angeles for over 35 years. She was the first woman trumpet player to record on both the Sony MGM and Warner Brothers scoring stages.
Marissa can be heard on nearly 160 motion picture soundtracks such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, Avatar 2: The Way of the Water, Lightyear, Incredibles II, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Coco, Moana, Rogue One, Spider-Man, Homecoming, Indiana Jones IV. Avatar, The Polar Express, Spider-Man 2, Monsters, Inc., and War of the Worlds.
She can also be heard on television sound tracks such as Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as well as JAG, Commander in Chief, and Galavant.
She has released a book and 2 albums, has appeared on the podcast "Beyond the Bell," and she is a Yamaha performing artist and educator.
The Classical Music Project Orchestra
The Orchestra of The Classical Music Project is comprised of highly accomplished local, professional musicians who have performed with all the major musical organizations in Minnesota, as well as other distinguished ensembles across the U.S.