Martines - Overture to “Isacco”
Composer Marianna Martines
A remarkable figure in the musical life of 18th-century Vienna, Marianna Martines was a celebrated composer, keyboardist, and singer at a time when few women could achieve such recognition. A student of both Joseph Haydn and Niccolò Porpora, and a contemporary of Mozart, Martines developed a distinctive voice that blended the elegance of the Classical style with the expressive lyricism of Italian opera. Isacco figura del Redentore (Isaac, Figure of the Redeemer) is a sacred oratorio based on the Old Testament story of Abraham and Isaac, drawing a parallel between Isaac’s near-sacrifice and Christ’s Passion. The work was first performed in 1780 and showcases Martines' gift for dramatic storytelling through music.The Overture to Isacco is an energetic and brilliant opening, structured in three concise sections that recall the sinfonia style typical of Italian opera. It brims with vivid orchestral colors, crisp rhythms, and lyrical melodies. The music’s spirited character and clear formal design immediately draw the listener into the emotional world of the oratorio, setting the stage for the profound drama to follow.Today, Martines is increasingly recognized not only as a historical curiosity but as a masterful composer in her own right, and works like the Isacco overture reveal her extraordinary talent and her rightful place alongside the great figures of the Classical era.
Guitarist Raley Beggs is an active concert performer and pedagogue. Florida born and Boston based, he performs solo and chamber works for the classical guitar and seeks to emphasize the instrument’s versatility and collaborative capability.
Guitarist Raley Beggs
As an educator Raley Beggs serves as faculty at Middlesex Community College teaching class guitar and private lessons and is the founding guitarist at EKS Music School. His students have gone on to gain entrance to Berklee College of Music, win internationally competitive awards with The Royal Conservatory of Music, and perform in concert venues that include Carnegie Hall in New York City. Raley also served as Faculty at Bridgewater State University and Competition Director for the prestigious annual Boston Guitarfest, where he also taught private lessons, coached ensembles, and performed.
Raley Beggs recently completed his Doctoral studies at Florida State University under profound guitarist and pedagogue Bruce Holzman, and holds a Master’s from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston with the esteemed Eliot Fisk. (Continue reading here).
Oliveira - Resiliens
Winner of the 2025 LCO Call-for-Scores
Resiliens describes the resilience principle in this follow way: in order to not to predict certain musical gestures by the listener and, therefore, to generate interest, some musical materials receive several ways of pressure, such as application of abrupt sounds in the middle of the musical discourse, momentary interruption, superimposition of melodies in a passacaglia, and receive several ways of variation as well. The power of recovery of certain sonorities is demonstrated too after the use of dissonances and overpressure in the string friction.
Composer Helder Oliveira
Helder Alves de Oliveira, Brazilian composer, pianist and music educator, holds a PhD in Music Composition from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), under the guidance of professor Liduino Pitombeira. He studied composition with Danilo Guanais, Manoel Nascimento, Rodrigo Cicchelli and Liduino Pitombeira. Helder was a 2019–20 Fulbright Visiting Researcher at LSU, under the supervision of professor Jeffrey Perry, and has received several composition awards in Brazil, USA, Germany, Portugal, Canada, Ireland and Denmark, such as two Funarte Classic Composition Awards (2012 and 2016), 1st place in the 5th Concurso de Composição da Academia de Flauta de Verão, 1st place in the A Hymn for Mercy Competition 2019, the Internationalen Eisenacher Bach Kompositionspreis 2020, 2021 Dolphy Prize, and 1st place in the 2023 Northwest Horn Symposium Composition Contest (Continue reading here).
Beethoven - Symphony No. 3, Op. 55, “Eroica”
Beethoven’s original Eroica manuscript, with Napoleon’s name violently scratched out.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, known as the Eroica (“Heroic”), marked a revolutionary leap in the history of symphonic music. Composed in 1803, it shattered the formal boundaries of the Classical symphony with its unprecedented length, emotional depth, and structural boldness. Originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte as a symbol of democratic ideals, Beethoven famously withdrew the dedication in anger after Napoleon crowned himself emperor, retitling the work simply as Eroica.
The four movements trace a dramatic journey: a bold and stormy opening Allegro, a solemn and deeply expressive funeral march, a vibrant and energetic Scherzo with heroic horn calls, and a final movement of inventive variations that build to a triumphant conclusion. With the Eroica, Beethoven reimagined the symphony as a vehicle for personal and political expression, laying the foundation for the Romantic era.
This concert is part of Middlesex Community College’s A World of Music Concert Series
