Symphony features organist

'Musical Revolution' Organist Anthony Newman performs with the Honolulu Symphony, directed by guest conductor Toshiyuki Shimada: In concert: 8 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Sunday Place: Blaisdell Concert Hall Tickets: $22 to $73 Call: 792-2000 or Ticketmaster, 877-750-4400

Newman will perform Joseph Jongen's mighty "Symphonie Concertante for Organ & Orchestra." The Belgium-born composer wrote the work in 1926, in the middle of the modern period in music, but his music is tonal and very conservative in style. Organists performing "Symphonie Concertante" must possess a black belt in organ technique, playing almost continuously in this 35-minute work. The finale offers a climax only the combination of organ and orchestra could create.

Anthony Newman has made countless solo appearances at many of the world's most prestigious venues -- more than 50 at Lincoln Center alone. He is a triple-threat -- performer, conductor and composer. His compositions have been performed in cities worldwide and he has collaborated in concert and in the recording studio with many greats -- Itzack Perlman, James Levine and Wynton Marsalis, to name a few.

The Jongen piece will be sandwiched between two remarkably popular pieces, Berlioz's "Roman Carnival" Overture and Beethoven's famed "Eroica Symphony."

French composer Hector Berlioz began his work on "Roman Carnival" during a year spent in Rome that inspired a number of works. These included semi-serious opera "Benvenuto Cellini," which premiered in 1838 to disastrous results. But Berlioz never abandoned his creation, and half a decade later recouped at least some of his losses by converting a bit of the music into an orchestral overture. He chose one theme from a love duet and a second from a lively carnival scene; it is from the latter that the overture received its name. The premiere in 1844 was complete success.

The "Eroica Symphony" was to have been called the "Bonaparte Symphony," in honor of Napoleon, whose republican ideals Beethoven much admired. But in 1804, when Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor of France, Beethoven is said to have flown into a rage -- tearing off the title page to his third symphony and changing its name.

The program for these concerts are filled with grandeur and majesty and I hope you will come share in the spectacle with us all!

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