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From the Studio: Eckart Preu and Masterworks 7

Former Spokane Symphony Music Director (2004–2019) Eckart Preu in the SPR performance space
Savanna Rothe
/
Spokane Public Radio
Former Spokane Symphony Music Director (2004–2019) Eckart Preu in the SPR performance space

Former Spokane Symphony music director previews a concert of Bruckner and Wagner

Eckart Preu, currently the music director of the Portland Symphony Orchestra in Portland, Maine, and former music director of the Spokane Symphony (2004–2019), joined E.J. Iannelli in the KPBX studio to chat about his upcoming Masterworks series concert with the Spokane Symphony.

The program for the Masterworks #7 concert features Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 in D Minor as its centerpiece. That work is paired with the prelude and "Liebestod" from Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde. It marks Preu's first public reunion with the orchestra since his departure.

Preu explained why he's been a champion of Bruckner's music since his teenage years, why Bruckner's works may have fallen out of fashion, and how the Third Symphony gradually came out from under Wagner's shadow to find a distinct voice. Preu also discussed the "orgiastic" qualities of both composer's works.

There are two performances of this "Welcome Back, Eckart" Masterworks concert — one on Saturday, March 4, and another on Sunday, March 5. Both are at the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox in downtown Spokane.

Tickets, showtimes and more info are available at the Fox Theater's website.

E.J. Iannelli is Spokane Public Radio's Arts & Music Direcor