[AMS-announce] ANNOUCEMENT: World Premiere of Stephen Casale’s Completion of the Scherzo Movement of Schubert’s Symphony No. 8, Toronto Philharmonia, Sept. 20, 2007

[ams-announce-admin at list.bowdoin.edu]

The SCHUBERT SOCIETY OF THE USA is pleased to announce the professional world premiere of Stephen Casale’s completion of the Scherzo Movement of Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 (“Unfinished” D759).  The premiere will be on September 20, 2007, at the gala season opening concert of the Toronto Philharmonia under the baton of Maestro Kerry Stratton.

Composer, teacher and critic Stephen Casale studied theory and composition at the New England Conservatory of Music and musicology at New York University.  The project to realize a performing version of the Scherzo movement of Schubert's "Unfinished" symphony based on Schubert's piano sketch for the movement took shape in Martin Chusid's graduate course on Schubert at NYU, where it was performed in 1978.  A studio recording of the Scherzo was subsequently made by the Czech Radio Symphony under Vladimir Valek in 1995.  The present performance by the Toronto Philharmonia is the first professional concert presentation of this realization of the movement.

The performance of the Casale/Schubert Scherzo at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, George Weston Recital Hall, is made possible through the sponsorship of the Schubert Society of the USA.  For more information, go to <www.torontophil.on.ca/concert_1.html>.