Vallejo Symphony - The River

Trey Makler, “you echo in me” (World Premiere) Felix Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto Edward ‘Duke’ Ellington, The River Ballet Suite This program features two American works—one by Duke Ellington, and the other written with you in mind by our Composer in Residence, Trey Makler. The River is yet another ballet score, written for Alvin Ailey and the American Ballet Theater in 1970. This fabulous work uses the progress of a river, from a tiny spring to the ocean, as a metaphor for life. Like the other two seldom-heard ballet scores we present this season, this is a work of huge invention, and a reminder (as if any of us need it), that Duke is one of our very greatest composers. Violin virtuoso Cordula Merks completes our traversal of 19th-century concertos with the warm-hearted Mendelssohn. Trey Makler is a musical storyteller. His music creates dramatic, poignant narratives that take the listener on unexpected journeys through memories of hope, play, struggle, and triumph. Cordula Merks Violinist Cordula Merks is the Concertmaster of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. Pre concert talk one hour before perfomance.