Earth Day-focus brings eclectic mix to Orchestra Iowa concerts

Get ready to expect the unexpected with Orchestra Iowa’s “Essential Earth” concerts Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, April 20 and 21, 2024.

This Earth Day musical celebration pairs dancers from Ballet Quad Cities with a jazzy French chamber piece revolving around the Earth’s origin story; followed by an accordionlike Argentine bandoneon (ban-doh-knee-own) with orchestra exploring the notion of a land without evil; then ends with Beethoven’s lush “Pastoral” Symphony, which begins with a delightful lilt before springing into action and tapering into serenity.

Julia Sakharova is looking forward to it all. After debuting as Orchestra Iowa’s concertmaster in a Feb. 17 pops concert with the music of Elton John and Billy Joel, she’s returning to her new leadership role in classical mode. But even this Masterworks program blurs genres.

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If you go

What: Orchestra Iowa Masterworks V: “Essential Earth,” an Earth Day musical tribute to our life-sustaining planet

Cedar Rapids: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 20, 2024, Paramount Theatre, 123 Third Ave. SE; $19 to $62

Coralville: 2 p.m. Sunday, April 21, 2024, Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 1301 Fifth St.; $19 to $48

Tickets: Includes details on student ticket pricing, free to $10, artsiowa.com/tickets/concerts/essential-earth

Program: Darius Milhaud’s “La creation du monde,” op. 81a (The Creation of the World); Richard Scofano’s “La Tierra Sin Mal” (The Land Without Evil); Ludwig van Beethoven’s“Pastoral” Symphony No. 6, Op. 68

Insights discussions: 6:45 p.m. April 20 in Paramount’s Encore Lounge; 1 p.m. April 21 at West Music, across the street from the performance hall; free to ticket holders

“It will be classical,” she said, “but actually, one of the pieces is a 20th century kind of jazzy piece by (Darius) Milhaud, a French composer. The piece is called ‘The Creation of the World,’ a really fantastic piece scored for two violins, cello, a bunch of instruments plus a saxophone. So it’s kind of a chamber orchestra. Then we’ll also have a soloist with us playing on the bandoneon. The second half will be Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony No. 6, that is more classical romantic.

“So even in that concert, there's a sort of bringing different genres together, which I think is fantastic, because it gives us and the audience a chance to compare and enjoy different ethos and find their own voice, like, ‘What speaks for me, what works for me?’

“I think offering different kinds of music like that is really great,” she said.

Diversity has been the heartbeat of the program since Day 1.

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“We knew we would be playing close to Earth Day in the wake of a solar eclipse,” Maestro Timothy Hankewich said. “And so every piece on this program is designed to pay homage to Mother Earth. At the at the same time, we also look to diversify our programming and feature world music that wouldn't necessarily find its way onto the stage in Iowa.”

The opening work “was originally envisioned as a ballet,” Hankewich said, so he reached out to Courtney Lyon, artistic director at Ballet Quad Cities, asking her to choreograph the piece for her company’s dancers.

The closing piece is Hankewich’s favorite Beethoven symphony.

“The allusions to Earth Day are pretty obvious,” he said. “It’s a trip to the countryside, evoking the feelings that one experiences when they are enjoying a wonderful, gorgeous spring day. There’s a special place in my heart for Symphony No. 6. …

“Beethoven was just coming out of a personal crisis where he almost took his own life. (Writing Symphony No. 6) sort of ushered in his mature phase, where he looked to his deafness as a gift rather than as a curse. And he became much more grateful and probably spiritual in his older age. So as a result, this first symphony that he wrote after this crisis seems to have flown out of his pen a whole lot easier.”

Bandoneon artist

The bandoneon piece blends classical and folk styles, reflecting composer Richard Scofano’s early studies, as well as his love for classical music. He will join Orchestra Iowa to perform his original work, “La Tierra Sin Mal” (The Land Without Evil), based on an Indigenous Utopian story from his South American homeland.

Born in Paso de los Libres in northeast Argentina, Scofano, now 48 and living in Chicago, noted the folk music of that region is “chamame,” which World Music Central describes as “music of the servants.”

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“We grew up with this idea of ‘la tierra sin mal,’ where the land without evil is heaven. But for the Guarani people, ‘la tierra sin mal’ is a place that you can reach when you are alive. So you have to be a good person.”

Scofano grew up in a home filled with music and musicians. He’s a third-generation master of the bandoneon, which he began studying at age 5 under his father’s tutelage. “I didn’t choose the bandoneon — my father chose it for me,” he said. “It’s part of the family business.”

While similar to the accordion, the bandoneon features complex sets of buttons and no piano-like keyboard. Like an accordion, the sound generates from a bellows system which the player pushes or pulls, moving air over internal metal reeds. It’s often associated with tangos, but Scofano leans more toward classical realms, so he’s found a way to marry those worlds.

Orchestra Iowa audiences will hear that in his 15-minute piece, which is romantic in a much different way than a steamy tango. It will create a natural bridge — culturally and sonically — between the first and third works on the orchestra’s program.

“Part of programming is transitions,” Hankewich said, “the transitioning between various pieces in various styles that makes it feel organic and seamless.”

An avid traveler, Hankewich experienced the bandoneon while visiting Scofano’s homeland. “I visited Argentina not too long ago, so I was hearing this instrument everywhere,” he said. “It’s a really expressive, beautiful instrument.”

But finding a bandoneon player in the United States is “really difficult,” he noted. “Luckily, Richard Scofano is both a composer and a performer.”

And Hankewich knew Mei-Ann Chen, who commissioned “La Tierra Sin Mal” in 2020, when she was with Houston’s River Oak Chamber Orchestra. She’s now music director at the Chicago Sinfonietta, in the city where Scofano has settled.

“She has a real talent for ferreting out these gems,” Hankewich said of Chen. “She shared the piece with me, and as soon as I heard it, I thought, ‘I need to find an excuse to play this music.’ ”

Genesis

“La Tierra” is a symphonic poem for bandoneon and orchestra, building off the idyllic peace in a South American folk story, but injecting the sorrow Scofano felt during the pandemic lockdown, being unable to fly from the United States to Argentina after his father died on March 26, 2020.

Beginning with the Genesis-like story from the Guarani people, Scofano told The Gazette that writing the piece became “an analogy, trying to find that land without evil inside, and not kill myself. To try to understand. … It helped to understand that many things that we do in life are unnecessary.

“So, I started writing and I always thought that to understand the music — music always has some dark and light, dark and light, dark and light, and always is going toward the light,” he said. “To know the light, you have to know the dark. If you don’t know the dark, it’s impossible to recognize which one is which — which one is the light and which one's the dark. So that’s why I have those (elements), moving them from a little dark and then going toward the light and the idea of this place that is Utopic.

“I know that it’s Utopic, but I really like to think that at least inside of us, we can find that peace. So that is why the idea of the Guarani is trying to find that constantly. They are very resilient (and have) endurance and courage, and their culture is about being not a warrior. The Indigenous from South America were a very easy people to be with, I think.

“So that helped me, and of course, the analogy of what happened to me at the time. … I don't want to sound like I’m a mystic person. I'm not a mystic person, but I really think that to try to be peace with yourself is part of the growing up as a human.”

Bridging cultures

He keeps an active touring schedule, and was heading to Puerto Rico on April 12, then would have a couple days back in Chicago before driving with his wife for their first trip to Cedar Rapids.

Now a U.S. citizen, Scofano has toured around the world, has lived abroad and he and his wife, a dancer, and their daughter have been in the United States for 25 years.

No matter where he’s performed, even for audiences unfamiliar with his instrument, he’s found that “music is music,” and any instrument is a way “for you to express yourself.”

“If you truly express yourself, you give yourself to the people who are listening. They’re going to get that from you, so it becomes an instrument with the orchestra,” he said.

“Most people think it’s an accordion. I understand, and they’re used to seeing the instrument set on a tango. I do play tango, of course. I learned that,” he added. “I just like to promote my music and not folk, or ‘chamame,’ but that is the essence. That is my essence.”

He eschews trying to classify music as classical, romantic, pop or any other genre.

“At some point, all the music is coming from somewhere,” he said. “It’s not coming from nothing. Somebody has happened to have different music growing up, that (they) listened to — folk or pop. Whatever you listen to becomes yours. I like orchestral music and chamber music and concert music — I really love it — but I do have the essence of my folk music. I’m not regretting that. I’m so happy to have some kind of roots to attach to.

“You learn, you change, and like me, you (move to another) country, you learn from the people. … My Christmas is a mix of Argentina and the States. You have to get some culture, some form from here, too, because it’s part of where you live.

“(With) music it’s the same,” he said. “I got my music and I share my music, and other musicians share with me. You’re learning constantly in a different culture. At some point, it becomes part of your culture, too, because you’re learning, you’re getting more info from different places in the world.”

And Hankewich is hoping Eastern Iowa audiences will embrace this opportunity to expand their cultural horizons.

“I love this concert,” he said. “I hope people will take advantage of it because not it’s not very often that you get to hear an unusual instrument like the bandoneon. …

“It’s one thing to program new music. It’s another when you land on a piece that's really great. It’s kind of neat to see the process of discovery in the eyes of the orchestra as well as the audience,” Hankewich said. “It’s a real gem of a program.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com