Chanhassen Native Grace Roepke to Perform Ginastera Harp Concerto in Concerts June 8-9

Conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the program includes two works by Zoltan Kodály and Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio italien

Led by Peruvian conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya, the Minnesota Orchestra presents a program that features folk rhythms from Latin America and Europe. Grace Roepke, who grew up in Chanhassen, Minnesota, and now serves as principal harp of the Louisville Orchestra, will perform as soloist in Alberto Ginastera’s Harp Concerto. The concerto explores the musical life of Ginastera’s native Argentina, and features the harp’s many capabilities including its fiery energy and special effects. Roepke’s debut with the Minnesota Orchestra comes after she was named the Grand Prize winner of the FRIENDS of the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artists Competition in 2019, becoming the first harpist to receive the honor in the competition’s six-decade history.

The program will be performed at Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis on Thursday, June 8, at 11 a.m., and Friday, June 9, at 8 p.m., with ticket prices ranging from $35 to $99. Choose Your Price tickets are available to all concertgoers for select seating sections ($5 minimum ticket price) for the Friday night performance. Free tickets are available for young listeners under the age of 18 for both concerts, thanks to the Orchestra’s Hall Pass program. For more information, visit minnesotaorchestra.org/hallpass. The Friday night performance will be broadcast live on stations of YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio.

The concerts include two works by composer Zoltan Kodály: his less familiar Concerto for Orchestra as well as the much-loved Dances of Galánta. Infused with Hungarian folk melodies, the Concerto for Orchestra is built around the structure of the concerto grosso, a Baroque-era form where music is passed between a small group of soloists and the full orchestra. In addition to his work as a composer, Kodály was an ethnomusicologist devoted to preserving and presenting traditional Hungarian folk music. His famed Dances of Galánta memorializes the music of his boyhood home and imposes his own symphonic structure on five dances that he heard a local Romani band play in his youth.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio italien will conclude the program. Written when Tchaikovsky was living in isolation in Rome after his failed marriage, the episodic composition was inspired by the sights and sounds that the composer encountered at Carnival. The delightful ode opens with a military bugle call and closes with an interpretation of the tarantella, an Italian folk dance characterized by frenzied, quick steps.

About Miguel Harth-Bedoya

Peruvian-born conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya has earned acclaim for his idiomatic interpretations from a diverse and wide range of repertoire in concerts across the globe. His 30-year career as a professional conductor—including 20 seasons at the helm of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra—is complemented by his deep commitment to passing his experience to the next generation of musicians, and he is director of orchestral studies at Baylor University and music director of the Baylor Symphony Orchestra, as well as founder of The Conducting Institute. This week marks his long-awaited return to the Minnesota Orchestra after a debut at the 2004 Sommerfest.

Harth-Bedoya’s recent guest conducting engagements have included concerts with the New Zealand Symphony, Charleston Symphony and Curtis Symphony, as well as appearances at the Aspen Music Festival, Grant Park Music Festival and Oregon Bach Festival. As an opera conductor, he conducted the premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain, the recording of which received a Grammy nomination. He is the founder and artistic director of Caminos del Inka, a non-profit organization dedicated to researching, performing and preserving the rich musical legacy of South America. More: miguelharth-bedoya.com.

About Grape Roepke

Grace Roepke is an international award-winning soloist and the newly appointed principal harp of the Louisville Orchestra. In addition to being awarded the Grand and First Prize at the FRIENDS of the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition, she has also received top prizes in the Dutch World Harp Competition, the Lyon & Healy Awards and the American Harp Society National Competition. As the first harpist to win a fellowship in Orchestral Studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Roepke has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Grant Park Music Festival, Akron Symphony Orchestra and Erie Philharmonic, among other ensembles.

Roepke has been a fellowship recipient at the Lucerne Festival Academy, Round Top Festival Institute and Texas Music Festival. She has presented numerous world premieres including Mammoth by Teddy Abrams with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Air by Thomas Adès with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Time Lapse by Patrick Harlin as a part of Yolanda Kondonassis’ FIVE MINUTES for Earth Project. Roepke is a proud third-generation harpist, following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Kondonassis. More: graceroepke.com.

Minnesota Orchestra Classical Concerts

GINASTERA, KODÁLY AND TCHAIKOVSKY

Thursday, June 8, 2023, 11 a.m. / Orchestra Hall

Friday, June 9, 2023, 8 p.m. / Orchestra Hall*

Minnesota Orchestra

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor

Grace Roepke, harp

Tickets: $35 to $99 [Choose Your Price tickets are available for select seating sections on Friday ($5 minimum ticket price). Free tickets available both Thursday and Friday for young listeners under age 18, thanks to the Hall Pass program.]

TICKET PURCHASING INFORMATION

Tickets and subscription packages can be purchased now at minnesotaorchestra.org or by calling 612-371-5656. For groups of 10 or more, call 612-371-5662.

The Hall Pass program makes free tickets available for young listeners ages 6 to 18 for select Classical and Symphony in 60 concerts, and all kids under 18 for Family concerts. This program is sponsored by Cynthia and Jay Ihlenfeld. For more information, visit minnesotaorchestra.org/hallpass.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

All programs, artists, dates, times and prices subject to change.

# # #