White Plains High School teacher William Eckfeld's Concertino for Solo Cello and Orchestra will receive its world premiere on Saturday, May 18 at St. Thomas Orchestra's spring concert.
Eckfeld, who will be retiring from teaching this year, said he will be devoting most of his time to composing. The 12-minute piece was written for St. Thomas Orchestra Music Director and accomplished cellist Bernard Tamosaitis.
"Bernie is a great and highly expressive cellist, and I've tried to mold the concertino to his personality," Mr. Eckfeld said. At the concert, Tamosaitis will play a cello made in 1753 by renowned Italian luthier Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi and loaned for the occasion by STO violinist and board member Jay Dweck. The 12-minute piece is "an intimate, essentially lyrical work" wrote musicologist Joshua Berrett in the program notes for the concert.
There are echoes of composers Paul Hindemith, Dimitri Shostakovich and Ernest Bloch and the work "offers a beautifully controlled sound palette against which the solo cello can express itself," Berrett wrote. "Mr. Eckfeld has offered us an exquisitely crafted work—one that speaks with a special passion and eloquence," Berrett concluded. Eckfeld has served as Orchestra Director at WPHS since 1987.
In addition, he was named president of the Greater Westchester Youth Orchestras Association, guest conductor of the Westchester Elementary All-County Orchestra, and president of the Westchester County School Music Association. Prior to entering the field of music education, Mr. Eckfeld was a member of the bass sections of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
He plays bass with STO, is Assistant Conductor and will be conducting the Concertino. Since 2011, STO has donated part of its concert proceeds to support the WPHS Music Department and its activities. The concert also features virtuoso clarinetists Stanley and Naomi Drucker performing Krommer's Concerto for Two Clarinets and Orchestra and the full orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4.
Details: St. Thomas Orchestra concert, Saturday, May 18, 7:30 pm, WPHS concert auditorium, 550 North St., White Plains, NY. $20 adults, $10 students, $45 families. Tickets available through www.showtix4u.com or at the door. Buffet reception to follow. For information, call 1-917-379-2260.
