“The Quad City Symphony Orchestra has come up with a creative way to literally draw audiences into its first program of this season’s Masterworks series, ‘Musical Postcards,’ ” writes Jonathan Turner in Wednesday’s (9/27) Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus (Moline, IL). Marc Zyla, the orchestra’s director of education and community engagement and principal horn, “is working with Davenport-based illustrator Jason Platt to visually tell the story of a young artist’s unrequited love in Hector Berlioz’s programmatic ‘Symphonie fantastique’ (1830), the wildly colorful piece that’s the center of the orchestra’s Oct. 7-8 concerts. ‘Jason has come up with amazing visuals to match Berlioz’s story, most of which highlight a recognizable landmark from the Quad-Cities,’ Mr. Zyla said…. QCSO conductor and music director Mark Russell Smith narrates five video episodes—each corresponding to a movement of the symphony, and drawn in black and white by Mr. Platt. Starting Monday, Mr. Zyla has posted the episodes … one per day, on QCSO social media pages…. A full-length movie of all [five] will be posted on Oct. 2.… Mr. Zyla said his goal is to ‘diversify how we speak about the music we love.’ ”
Posted September 28, 2017
