Flirting with Melodies

On the program:
Samuel COLERIDGE-TAYLOR  Four Novelettes, op. 52
Julie SPENCER  Tree Song (World Premiere of new orchestral version)
Josef SUK Serenade in E-flat major, op. 6

Nothing from the mind of Music Director Laura Jackson is ever predictable – flirting with new ways to bring back the musicians of the Reno Phil to the stage of the Pioneer Center, this virtual concert will feature two marimbas (Eric Middleton & Carol Colwell) performing a world premiere performance of Julie Spencer’s Tree Song. The music pours out a love of nature, inspired by the songs of birds, wind in the trees, and mountain echoes. The program will also feature two incredibly romantic, lush and melodic works. As the diminutive title suggests, Coleridge-Taylor’s Novelettes form a set of modest yet graceful character pieces, whose dance-like qualities are accentuated through the addition of triangle and tambourine. Closing the program, Suk’s Serenade will be a lively & cheerful nod at the warmth of spring around the corner. A favorite student of Dvorak’s, Suk crafted this work after being challenged by his teacher to write something more ebullient.

Available on demand!

On demand tickets are $30.00* per access link

*Subscriber promo codes and comps not applicable to on-demand.

This option is available for purchase Mar. 1 – 7, 2021. Video will be available to watch for 7 days from the first time you click into the stream player and will not be available after Mar. 14, 2021 at 11:59 PM PST.

Featured artists Eric Middleton and Carol Colwell are generously sponsored by Karen Vibe & Karen Goody

Tree Song is generously sponsored by Kathie & Steve Jenkins

Corporate Support:

Sponsorship opportunities are still available. Click here for more information.
Email Director of Development, Michael Hicks or call 775.323.6393. 

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Born: August 15, 1875, London, England
Died: September 1, 1912, Croydon, Surrey, England

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born of an English mother and a physician father from Sierra Leone descended from African-American slaves. After studying the violin as a youth, he turned to composing when he entered London’s Royal College of Music at age 15. By his early twenties, his compositions had won worldwide attention, in particular Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast, the first of what eventually became three cantatas based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem Song of Hiawatha. He was the youngest delegate at the 1900 First Pan-African Conference held in London, and Coleridge-Taylor became fascinated with the idea of integrating traditional African music into his own works. During the first of his three tours of the United States, in 1904, he was hailed as a cultural hero by African-Americans and was received at the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt. He was just 37 when he died of pneumonia.

4 Novelletten, Op. 52

Composed: 1903
Duration: 22 minutes
Instrumentation: strings, tambourine, triangle

In the wake of the fame attained by his Hiawatha works, Coleridge-Taylor’s life had become extremely busy in the first years of the twentieth century. Along with his composing, in 1903 he became a professor of composition at Trinity College of Music in London, and was appointed music director of the Handel Society. At around this same time, he composed the four Novelletten for strings with optional percussion. (There is also a version titled Haitian Dances that adds a fifth piece, derived from the Scherzo movement of Coleridge-Taylor’s Symphony in A minor, between the second and third of the Novelletten). The title is unusual, and was probably inspired by Robert Schumann’s solo piano Novelletten, Op. 21 from 1838.

All four of Coleridge-Taylor’s Novelletten are in a fairly simple ABA song form. The first is a gentle, insouciant waltz, punctuated by the tambourine. In its central section, the cellos take the lead with a memorable tune that could have come from Antonín Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings. Muted strings and pizzicati give the second Novellette a gently playful quality, which extends into the occasional syncopations and the solo cello’s lovely countermelody. The minuet-like dance at the center is given warmth by the accent on the lower strings, before the winsome opening music returns, capped off by a ring of the triangle.

A heartfelt violin solo is prominently featured in the wistful, vaguely sentimental third piece. A more propulsive, intense central section provides a strong contrast. That propulsive quality comes out even more in the last of the , which brings a note of aggression, and a sense of adventure, not heard to this point. The music briefly turns quiet and mysterious before the opening music returns for a powerful coda.

Eric Middleton has been principal percussionist with the Reno Philharmonic since 2003. Prior to that, he was timpanist with the Phil during the 1994 and 1995 seasons. He then moved to Austin, Texas, where he earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas.

Eric got his start performing in the Reno/Tahoe area in the showrooms of Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, Harrah’s Reno, and other showrooms that no longer exist.

Previous ensembles include the Austin Texas Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony, the Mid- Texas Symphony, Austin Chamber Music Festival, and the Reno Chamber Orchestra. Currant ensembles include the Reno Philharmonic and the Classical Tahoe festival.

Carol Nelson Colwell was born in Lockport IL. She comes from a family of percussionists. Her brother Jeff is also a professional percussionist and her Mother Lois was her first Marimba teacher. She graduated high school from the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy. At the age of 18 she won first prize in the Illinois Young Performers Competition which earned her the opportunity to play a concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She received her Bachelor’s of Music Degree from Oberlin Conservatory and Masters of Music Degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music. She was a percussionist in the Honolulu Symphony and Timpanist and Xylophone Soloist with the River City Brass Band. She also has had an extensive freelance career having played with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, New world Symphony, Omaha Symphony, and Seattle Ballet to name a few. Currently she has played with the Reno Phil for over 10 years and lives in Dayton, NV with her husband Marty and dog Parker.