It’s a near certainty that I won’t be able to make this concert on Saturday night, but if you’ll be in New York City and you are interested in unusual and worthwhile repertoire, it’s possible I could live vicariously through you. It’s agonizing to me to have to miss not only the Symphony No. 5 by American composer (and one-time Juilliard president) Peter Mennin, but also the lovely, late-Romantic Violin Concerto by Mieczyslaw Karlowicz. (Rachel Lee Priday will be the soloist.)

The program will open with Giacomo Puccini’s “Capriccio sinfonico.” That’s the student piece he cannibalized for “La bohème.” If you know your Puccini, you will recognize it.

The Mennin is not performed often enough and the Karlowicz is rarely-heard on these shores. You could attend concerts for decades, as I have, and never encounter either one in performance. It is, however, characteristic programming for the New York Repertory Orchestra, whose music director is David Leibowitz.

The programs are always intriguingly and intelligently put together. Sadly, I always seem to have a conflict. (I was bummed to miss their LAST concert, which included the Symphony No. 4 by Ruth Gipps.) TICKETS ARE FREE, with a suggested $15 donation.

So if you’re interested in enjoying some attractive, well-crafted music that for some inexplicable reason has never really gained a toehold in the standard repertoire, hie thee to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 145 West 46th St., between 6th & 7th Avenues, this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. – and taunt me with how fabulous it was to hear this concert live!

More information at the link

https://www.nyro.org/index.html

Rehearsing Mennin

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3285024335012633

———

PHOTO: An eerie Octo-Mennin, courtesy of Gordon Parks