Bela Bartok: Romanian Folk Dances
Joaquin Rodrigo: Fantasia para un gentilhombre
with Julio Reyes, guitar
Claude Debussy/Ravel: Sarabande
Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty Suite

On February 16th and 17th, the CCCO presents a program highlighting the sounds of dance music from around the world.

Bela Bartok was committed to preserving the traditional folk music of his homeland and finding ways to incorporate them into his own compositional voice. Romanian Folk Dances is a passionate setting of traditional folk tunes the composer discovered while traveling from village to village in the countryside.

Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo’s stunning guitar concerto, Fantasia para un gentilhombre is based on six dances composed by 17th-century composer Gaspar Sanz. Guitar virtuoso Julio Reyes will be our featured soloist.

Maurice Ravel, an admirer of fellow French composer Claude Debussy, arranged several of his piano works for full orchestra. One particularly striking arrangement is of the luscious “Sarabande” from Debussy’s Pour le piano.Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Suite contains several of the most famous dances from this treasured ballet.