Rick Steves’ new destination
Published 12:01 am Friday, October 21, 2011
Combine the music of some of the world’s greatest composers with the charm of travel guru Rick Steves and you will see Europe like you’ve never heard it before.
Steves is helping Cascade Symphony Orchestra kick off its 50th “Golden Jubilee” season this weekend with a multimedia present
ation, “Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey.”
Music director Michael Miropolsky will lead the musical tour, which begins in the United States then touches down in seven European countries.
For each stop, Steves (who wrote his first travel columns for The Herald in the early 1980s) will paint the cultural context in words, and then the orchestra will play favorites from each country, according to press material about the show.
Along with the music and narration, a big-screen video montage of Steves’ photos from each location will be shown.
The composers and countries on the program include Grieg for Norway, Smetana for the Czech Republic, Strauss for Austria, Berlioz for France, Elgar for England, Wagner for Germany and Verdi for Italy.
Music will include “On the Blue Danube” by Strauss, “The Moldau” by Smetana, the “pomp and circumstance march” by Elgar, excerpts from Verdi’s “Aida” and Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” suite, as well as “Marche Troyenne” by Berlioz and the “Overture to Die Meistersinger” by Wagner.
The finale, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” — Europe’s official anthem — will celebrate a continent whose motto is, “united in diversity,” according to the press material.
At each performance, one audience member will be selected at random to receive a Rick Steves seven-day European city tour for two.
Performances of “Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey” will be filmed and edited into a one-hour special to air on KCTS in Seattle and nationally on public television.
“Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey” will begin at 7:30 p.m. Sunday and Mondayat the Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N, Edmonds.
Tickets are $25 general admission, $20 seniors, $15 students and $10 for those 12 and under. Call 425-275-9595 or online at www.ec4arts.org.
For more information see the Cascade Symphony website at www.cascadesymphony.org.
Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.
