Name: Pearl de la Motte with the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony
Start: 2025-02-09T17:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-02-09T18:45:00-04:00
Location: Chenery Auditorium

Pearl de la Motte with the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony

Pearl de la Motte, viola
Andrew Koehler, conductor
Cecil Forsyth - Concerto for Viola in G minor (62’)
Ralph Vaughan Williams - A London Symphony (45’)
2024 Stulberg Bronze Medalist Pearl de la Motte returns to Kalamazoo with the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra to perform the eclectic Forsyth Concerto for Viola.
After showcasing a lesser-known solo work for the viola, Pearl will perform another contemporary and folk-inspired solo work, Forsyth’s Concerto for Viola. The Kalamazoo Junior Symphony will perform alongside Pearl, providing a depth of sound unachievable with just piano and viola alone.
What You’ll Experience:
-A hidden gem of the solo viola repertoire by a 20th-century English composer.
-An orchestral marvel evocative of the sights, sounds, and atmosphere of London.
-Pearl de la Motte, violist and Bronze Medalist at the 2024 Stulberg Competition.
What’s Interesting About This Program:
-Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote the London Symphony just before the start of World War I. Unwillingly, the work became entangled in the discourse of the war when two casualties were claimed: Vaughan Williams’ close friend George Butterworth and the original manuscript of the piece itself. While the score was reconstructed from the instrumental parts, George Butterworth’s memory lives on through this piece as Vaughan Williams dedicated the published work to Butterworth.
-Cecil Forsyth, a lesser known English composer, was better known as a musicologist and violist. Having lived during the same time period as Vaughan Williams, it is known that Forsyth advised Vaughan Williams during his orchestration of the London Symphony.
-While the Forsyth Viola Concerto is among the lesser known solo viola works of today, during its premiere in 1903, it was considered a smash hit. This kind of buzz for solo viola repertoire was very uncommon for the time period, as the historical giants of viola performance Lionel Tertis and William Primrose had yet to popularize the viola as a solo instrument.