Behind the Music: The S.O. Podcast

Written in 1918 at the end of World War I, Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat is one of the composer’s most imaginative creations. Fusing dance, music, narration and storytelling, L’Histoire tells the story of a soldier who trades his violin to the Devil in exchange for wealth, only to discover that some bargains cost far more than they're worth. Blending elements of jazz, folk music, marches, tango, ragtime and classical traditions, Stravinsky's score is endlessly colorful, surprising, and full of personality. Equal parts entertaining, thought-provoking and delightfully quirky, The Soldier's Tale remains one of the most captivating chamber works ever written.

The S.O. Podcast features recordings from our live Music Chat series, recorded each month at the Dorchester County Library at Ashley River. Because these episodes are recorded live, you may hear occasional audience noise, pauses or technical moments that don’t translate quite the same way in a podcast. Thanks for joining us from wherever you’re listening!

For upcoming music chat topics, check out our website!

For more information about the Summerville Orchestra, visit www.summervilleorchestra.org

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Join music conductor Wojciech Milewski for our first Music Chat of Season 23 as we explore the life, work and genius of Carlos Kleiber, often revered by conductors as the ultimate “great conductor.” What does that mean? Why do they feel that way? Famously, his rehearsal footage of “Der Freischutz” has been in and of itself a masterpiece, and a benchmark for all conductors. So, why is that? Let’s learn more about the genius and his work.

The S.O. Podcast features recordings from our live Music Chat series, recorded each month at the Dorchester County Library at Ashley River. Because these episodes are recorded live, you may hear occasional audience noise, pauses or technical moments that don’t translate quite the same way in a podcast. Thanks for joining us from wherever you’re listening!

For the German to English translation of the Kleiber interview, watch it on Youtube with translation subtitles enabled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qydEss4m20

For upcoming music chat topics, check out our website!

For more information about the Summerville Orchestra, visit www.summervilleorchestra.org

Support the show

Welcome back to another episode of "Getting to Know Your S.O."! Today, we are lucky to be joined (in more ways than you may think!) by local architect and composer, Chris Karpus. 

Transitioning to an architectural degree/career following his musical studies in college (2:00), Chris finds the time to do both today, in addition to running two non-profits with his wife, Amy (45:00), raising a family, being part of his church, and apparently even has time to rest (52:00)

Learn all about how his relationship with his faith and God have influenced his life and his music, how he has miraculously recovered from a cardiac arrest he suffered a few years ago (54:00), and how music still plays an important role in his life even though he has made a career as an architect today. For all that wonder how to make music a big part of your life but wish to pursue an alternate career choice, this is the podcast for you!

To learn more about Chris, his architecture, his non-profits, or to listen to his music, visit www.karpusdesign.com. 

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Welcome back for our fourth episode of the 3rd season of "Getting to Know Your S.O.!" Today, we are excited to welcome guest oboist Cassie Pilgrim to the podcast. Currently serving as Principal Oboe of  St. Paul's Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota, Cassie was our guest artist for the "Buona Sera!" concerts in February of 2023. She played Bellini's Oboe Concerto & "Gabriel's Oboe" from The Mission. 

In today's podcast, we dive into Cassie southern roots (Georgia!), her journey to discovering the oboe and its many intricacies, and also life outside of the practice room. You'll learn all about the rigors and daily life of a professional oboist, and also learn some of Cassie's favorite non-musical hobbies! 

Join us for another episode! 

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In this episode, we get to know composer Chris Pilsner! We were fortunate to host Chris as a conductor and guest composer of his piece "Snow Falling in Autumn", that was performed as a side-by-side with the Summerville Orchestra Youth Philharmonic in November of 2022. 

In this podcast, we talk about composing, the balance of daily life and music, composers everyone should be listening to today, and how we both got started in music. 

Enjoy this informative and fun episode!! 

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Welcome back for another episode featuring some of our guest artists with the orchestra! This episode introduces us to Dr. Laura Moore Pruett, a musicologist and professor at Merrimack College who specializes in 19th-century American music, specifically focusing on the music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk. 

The orchestra was fortunate enough to perform Gottschalk's Symphony No. 2 last season on our "American Rhapsody" concert, and listeners will actually hear snippets of the orchestra performing this piece during this episode! (0:00 & 55:20)

Today, we will learn all about New Orleans musical life in the 19th century, the impact of Gottschalk as an important U.S. composer, and get to know just how Dr. Pruett got into researching this composer! Hint: She's from Louisiana! 

Enjoy this episode of "Get To Know Your S.O."!

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Welcome back to Season 3 of "Get to Know Your S.O.!" In season 3, we highlight some of the guest artists that are coming to perform with our amazing orchestra, and bring you closer to them! Featuring artists from our 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons! 

In this first episode, we get to know Dr. Robert Auler, piano. Dr. Auler performed "Rhapsody in Blue" on our February 2022 concert, and also gave us a world premiere of a Romance for piano, written for one of our dear season ticket holders. Luckily for us, Dr. Auler plays parts of BOTH pieces during our episode, so be sure to tune in to hear him make some brilliant music. 

I have had the wonderful pleasure of having Dr. Auler as a professor at SUNY Oswego, where I studied piano and music theory with him. We speak about our time at Oswego, sports, motivation, and more in this entertaining and informative episode. 

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Episode 7 - Alternate Careers in "Music", featuring our principal horn, Erin Yardley, who is also an instrument technician with Southern String Supply in Mt. Pleasant. 

There is a misconception that you have limited options out there when you graduate with a music degree. Basically...you can perform or teach. But...is it true? Today, we talk about the wide variety of career paths that a music degree can set you up for, how a music education can help you learn valuable and hirable skills outside the field, and even other music-industry jobs that are NOT performance or education - because lets face it - they're not for everyone. We're all different, unique, and have our own story; sometimes, your story doesn't fit the majority. Today, we help you think outside the box if you're considering stepping into the field. 

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Episode 6 - Music and Health (with Andrew Price)

We are more and more aware of how these two worlds co-exist today. Ideally, they form a symbiotic relationship - if you take care of yourself well, then your music will be better for it and you will be healthier in the long run. Managing our physical, mental and emotional conditions, how we fuel ourselves and recharge our batteries, and even how we go about improving or "practicing" daily - its all inter-connected. More importantly - we tackle what studying music has taught us about personal health, and how studying music can help you in the long run regardless of what you end up doing with your life. Join us as we sit down with our principal bass Andrew Price to tackle the topic. 

Our backgrounds? Andrew is a professional musician and educator/teacher, football coach, former personal trainer, and teacher of Alexander Technique. Wojciech is a professional conductor, pianist, and clarinetist, has been playing organized sports as long as he's been playing music, was on the college swim team, has trained with Navy SEALs and still follows their PT & Nutrition guidelines. 

Together? We come up with some interesting topics and give you some interesting data that will help you regardless of if you're trying to improve your musicianship, your hobby, your day-to-day life, or whatever else you can fit this podcast into. Its a universal topic with a music twist. 

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Episode 5 - It's Accessible: Modern Music Debunked PART 2

Here we go again! Today? The 1960s through the present day. 

Ever been put off by 20th century orchestral music? Too "modern sounding" for you? Not enough melody? Prefer Rachmaninoff or Tchaikovsky? If you've answered "yes" to any of the above, boy do we have the show for you! Today, Drew & I show you just how accessible 20th Century music can be!

After introducing the "how" and "why" of this episode, Drew and I dive into each decade of the 20th century and show you examples from each. These pieces are not only important, but also accessible and not too far out there for the ear/mind to digest when you're listening to them. We each choose 1 piece of music per decade, and since there's so much music, we have to throw some honorable mentions in there! We then pick one of the two and play an audio clip to give you a taste. We hope you not only have fun along with us, but that this also gives you a new appreciation for 20th and 21st century music. Hopefully it will encourage you to find your own favorites! Have some we didn't mention? Let us know!

Our picks: Drew's & Wojciech's in that order, separated by "&"
**doubles are omitted and substituted

1960s: Shostakovich: "String Quartet No. 8" & Virgil Thomson: "Autumn"
Honorable mentions: Bernstein "Chichester Psalms" & Stravinsky: "Canon on a Russian Theme"

1970s: G. Crumb: "Mikrokosmos" & Arvo Part: "Spiegel im Spiegel"
HMs: Arvo Part: "Fratres", Górecki: "Three Dances for Orchestra", Astor Piazzolla: "Libertango"

1980s: Arvo Part: "Fratres" & Michael Nyman: "Memorial
HMs: Arvo Part: "Los Angeles Symphony" & Peter Maxwell Davies: Orkney Wedding at Sunrise; John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine

1990s: E. Rautavaara: Symphony No. 7 "Angel of Light" & A. Marquez:  Danzon No. 2
HMs: W. Kilar - Requiem Father Kolbe

2000s: M. Richter: "On the Nature of Daylight"  from "Blue Notebooks" x2!!! (We agree!!)
HMs: P. Glass: "The Hours" & J. Higdon: "Blue Cathedral"; M. Bates: "Mothership"

2010s: S. Reich: "WTC 9/11" & M. Richter: "Four Seasons Recomposed"
HMs: W. Marsalis: Violin Concerto & R. Orth: Pineland Breeze 

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