The program is dedicated by Stomberg to the memory of the late cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and will include works by J.S. Bach, Benjamin Britten and Johannes Brahms.
Rostropovich, nicknamed "Slava" by those who knew him and followed his playing, "was truly one of the great musical forces of the last century," says Stomberg. "Nearly half of the works written for the cello in the second half of the 20th century were either written for or commissioned by him. He was a good friend of the major composers of the day, including Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Britten, and these composers used his tremendous gifts as a springboard for some of the true landmark works for the instrument."
The works on the program were chosen with Rostropovich in mind, and how he inspired Stomberg as a young musician.
"The third Bach Cello Suite was a work played by Slava right at the Berlin Wall when it came down in 1989--an inspiring melding of music, humanism and politics," Stomberg says. "The third Britten suite is another unaccompanied work, the last of three solo suites written specifically for Rostropovich, and is a wild array of exploration based on Russian folk themes, which are presented at the end of the work. The Brahms F Major Sonata with piano is one of those works that is a standard of the cello/piano repertory, and one of the recordings of Slava's (with pianist Rudolf Serkin) that I greatly admired growing up."
Admission is $12 for adults, $8 for seniors and alumni and $3 for students. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance at the Trabant University Center or Bob Carpenter box offices.
For more information, visit [http://ravel.music.udel.edu/calendar] or call (302) 831-2577.
