Friday, Nov. 5 will mark the season-opening concert for the Lake Union Civic Orchestra (LUCO). The orchestra will be performing symphonies by Beethoven and Shostakovich. Founded in 1995, LUCO began as a chamber ensemble made up of doctors at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, sharing the therapeutic qualities of music with the patients at the center.
The ensemble’s growth both musically and physically can be attributed to music director Christophe Chagnard, who joined LUCO 10 years ago. One of Chagnard’s goals is to continually raise the bar with repertoire. He says that he enjoys working with this group of extremely bright people who always rise to the occasion.
This ambitious attitude has led the orchestra to expand their repertoire with works by great composers such as Beethoven, Mahler and Debussy. The now 80-person group performs a regular season of concerts at Seattle’s Town Hall.
“What’s great about LUCO is that it’s a culture of its own. [The orchestra] is a great mix of enthusiasm, skill and intellect,” Chagnard said.
On the program for tonight are symphonies by Beethoven and Shostakovich. Chagnard describes this concert as a contrast between the lightest and the heaviest music of the symphonic repertoire. Beethoven’s 8th — and penultimate — symphony is said to be his most classical, and was inspired by the past as opposed to the future, which, according to Chagnard, is unusual for Beethoven.
Providing contrast to this will be Shostakovich’s 12th symphony, a “folk hero epic” subtitled “The Year of 1917” and dedicated to Vladimir Lenin, leader of the October Revolution in 1917.
As early as the 1930s, Shostakovich had experimented with the idea of a musical tribute to Lenin and what he did for Russia. However, he was overcome by the monumental challenge, and did not attempt to write such a tribute for another 20 years. As a result, the symphony is one of Shostakovich’s most dramatic and over-the-top works.
“He poured himself into it . . . and threshed [the music] to emotional limits,” Chagnard said.
Shostakovich used several revolutionary songs as inspiration and source material for his 12th symphony, and even quoted the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s “Messiah.” Although the four movements of the symphony are played continuously without breaks in between, they paint four different pictures of Russia and Lenin’s life in the year 1917.
Chagnard notes that what makes LUCO special among other local chamber groups is its accessibility and affordability.
“It’s the best music for your value in town, with an atmosphere that is congenial and inviting,” Chagnard said.
[PHOTO COURTESY/ GREG NISSEN]