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A celebration that’s 40-plus years in the making takes flight at Zoo Miami on Sunday, Feb. 25, with Orchestra Miami’s performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’s 1886 suite, Le Carnaval des Animaux (Carnival of the Animals).
For Elaine Rinaldi, Orchestra Miami’s artistic director, this performance is deeply personal.
In 1982, at the age of 14, Rinaldi made her soloist debut as a pianist with the Fort Lauderdale Chamber Orchestra performing Carnival of Animals at what was then the newly opened Miami Metro Zoo. Even at that young age, Rinaldi knew that she wanted to recreate that event and allow other promising young artists to perform locally with a professional orchestra. Forty-two years later, her dream becomes a reality.
“This concert is a full circle moment for me, and it’s perfect for Orchestra Miami’s ‘Discover Miami Through Music’ series, which I started in 2014. You can’t perform this suite without duo pianists, so I’m especially pleased to be giving two young piano soloists the rare opportunity to perform with a professional orchestra,” Rinaldi said.
Orchestra Miami will offer two performances of the humorous musical suite of 14 movements, each representing an animal. They are honored to have Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava narrating the 11 a.m. performance while conservationist Ron Magill will narrate the 1 p.m. performance.
Maestro Rinaldi will be conducting the performances, and the piano soloists are Elisabeth Thomashoff, originally from Vienna, Austria, and Aneliya Novikova, originally from Voronezh, Russia, both 21 or younger and still students at the Lynn Conservatory of Music.
Running approximately 45 minutes each, both shows are free to the public with the purchase of a Zoo Miami admission ticket.
“I’m excited to be a part of Orchestra Miami’s Carnival of Animals. It is certainly one of Camille Saint Sans’ most beautiful works. From the first note to the last, it’s got everything — excitement, eccentric ideas, and instrumentation that competes with playfulness, elegance, and science. This musical suite and Zoo Miami is the perfect marriage,” Magill said.
The animals depicted in Carnival of the Animals are lions, hens/roosters, tortoises, elephants, and kangaroos, to name a few. It also will feature The Swan, one of the most famous and recognizable pieces in all of music history. This performance also will include Ottorino Respighi’s The Birds, which is based on music from the 17th and 18th centuries and represents an attempt to transcribe birdsong into musical notation, illustrating bird actions, such as fluttering wings, or scratching feet.
“Saint-Saëns wrote this suite for fun in February 1886 and then prohibited anyone from listening to it until 1922. One hundred two years later, this is still one of his most enduring and fun compositions. What better way to enjoy this whimsical piece about animals than among the animals,” Rinaldi said.
Zoo Miami is located at 12400 SW 152 St. The concert is free with paid zoo admission. Adult admission is $22.95; child’s admission is $18.95.
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