Pintscher Conducts Copland & Pintscher

Matthias Pintscher, conductor
Blake Pouliot, violin

PINTSCHER: Assonanza for Violin and Chamber Orchestra
RAVEL: Tzigane, rapsodie de concert for Violin and Orchestra
COPLAND: Symphony No. 3

German-born conductor and composer Matthias Pintscher returns to the San Diego Symphony with a program of striking contrasts – opening with his own shimmering Assonanza and closing with Aaron Copland’s monumental Symphony No. 3, the most iconic American symphony ever written.

Pintscher, who has lived in the United States for nearly two decades, is celebrated for music of luminous texture and refined color. Assonanza – the Italian term for assonance – plays with echoes and patterns of sound, much as poets shape rhymes and rhythms that linger on the ear. Originally written for solo violin, the piece evolved into a miniature concerto in which the orchestra serves as an echo chamber, reflecting and transforming the violin’s phrases. Canadian soloist Blake Pouliot brings its intricate brilliance to life.

Ravel’s sparkling Tzigane, inspired by the Hungarian Jewish violinist Jelly d’Arányi, follows – a virtuosic homage to the Romani violin tradition that enchanted European audiences in the 1920s.

The program concludes with Copland’s Symphony No. 3, written at the close of World War II. Majestic, optimistic, and quintessentially American, it weaves noble lyricism with the triumphant “Fanfare for the Common Man,” affirming a nation’s spirit at peace.