The South Bend Symphony has a concert this afternoon. We’re playing Mozart, which of course is always great stuff. Don Giovanni Overture and Symphony no. 40. I have no complaints.
But the star of the show is Scott Metlicka, our piccolo player, featured in the Liebermann Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra. It’s a beautiful piece – romantic and flowing. It sounds like pastoral movie music one minute, and in the very next it becomes a virtuoso flourish for the piccolo. I’m really enjoying hearing and playing it.
The great thing about Scott’s playing is that he really makes the piccolo sound like an instrument. Far too many people play this tiny flute like an unpleasant toy, but the Liebermann Concerto is a real piece of music, and Scott gives the picc a real range of color, and a range of dynamic. He phrases on the thing. The piece is virtuosic but also rhapsodic and beautiful, and for me it’s the highlight of the concert.
Come on out and see for yourself! Sunday at 2:30, at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center at Notre Dame. Details and tickets HERE.