"The audience response was absolutely overwhelming. In both cities we had numerous people coming back stage to ask about the piece and the composer."
               -- Chris Younghoon Kim, conductor, describing
                  Café Neon performances in Rhodes and Athens, Greece.

Café Neon: Fantasy on Greek Songs and Dances (2000)

          by Steven Karidoyanes         ASCAP

 

Program Notes by the composer [revised: 13 January 2005]

 

Café Neon owes its form and existence to the 20th century Hungarian composer, Zoltán Kodály. When I first conducted Kodály's Galánta Dances I was immediately taken by the music's passion and color and wished there was a Greek equivalent which would gratify my Hellenic heritage. Café Neon now fills that personal void.

Although utilizing entirely different melodic material, Café Neon follows the formal structure of Galánta fairly closely and, like Galánta, features the orchestra's principal clarinet. This was a natural choice as the clarinet is such a prominent instrumental voice in Greek music. Two of the four melodies used were performed by The Trio Bel Canto, a Greek popular music ensemble working in the 1960's, '70's and '80's. The first of these melodies is a hauntingly beautiful tune entitled Káthe Limáni ke Kaimós (Heartache in Every Port). Just as Kodály constructed Galánta, portions of this melody return throughout Café Neon as unifying thematic material. The second Trio Bel Canto theme is a spirited dance in a characteristically infectious meter unmistakably of Greek derivation, Sou Tópa miá, ke dhió, ke trís (I Told You Once, Twice and Thrice). The third melody is a slow, seductive, traditional air entitled I Skláva (The Slave Girl).

The presto conclusion of Café Neon was inspired by The Averof of Cambridge, a, now defunct, Greek and Middle Eastern restaurant and night club. On Sunday evenings, a Greek harmonica virtuoso accompanied by the Averof house band would play, what I came to call, sizzling "modal jam sessions." The finale of Café Neon includes my recollection of one of these incredible evenings.

All the musical ideas in this work have been synthesized through my experiences as a Greek-American. In addition to my memories of the Averof, I recall my mother singing the "hauntingly beautiful" melody mentioned earlier while my family was vacationing in Greece during the summer of 1965. She later played for me a Trio Bel Canto recording which included that melody and the jaunty dance I would also work into Café Neon. While attending a Greek school in Boston as a child, I often heard I Skláva as the accompaniment to a dance we were to learn -- the very traditional tsámiko.

The title, by the way, evolved naturally. As a fantasy piece, I was trying to find a word which would evoke images of a smoke-filled tavern or coffee bar. I wasn't too inspired by the title Tavérna. Kafeníon is Greek for coffee bar. Café Neon became the Americanization of Kafeníon.

Café Neon was commissioned by Yoichi Udagawa and the Quincy (MA) Symphony Orchestra and was first performed with that orchestra under my direction on November 17, 2000. Café Neon is lovingly dedicated to my parents, Michael and Tula Karidoyanes.

-- Steven Karidoyanes

Steven Karidoyanes
Born: 5 November 1957
          Boston, Massachusetts

For a biography about the composer, click here.

 

Café Neon: Fantasy on Greek Songs and Dances

Performance details, to date:

Premiered November 17th, 2000 by the Quincy (MA) SO
         with the composer conducting.
Quincy (MA) SO: May 19, 2001 [2nd performance in same season]
Mission Chamber Orchestra, San Jose, CA: October 6, 2001
Tufts University (MA) SO Concert Tour to
          Rhodes & Athens, Greece, January 2002
Warren (MI) SO: April 2002
Plymouth (MA) Philharmonic: April 27 & 28, 2002
Melrose (MA) SO: May 4, 2002
Boston's Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra: February 14 & 16, 2003
         [as part of their 25th Anniversary Season]
Duluth-Superior (MN) SO: June 28, 2003 performance at the
         Lucius Woods Performing Arts Center, Solon Springs, Wisconsin
Mission Chamber Orchestra, San Jose, CA:
         Tour to Italy, June-July 2003
Pittsburgh Symphony (PA): February 5, 2005 [Family Concert]
Columbus Indiana Philharmonic: October 8, 2005
Mission Chamber Orchestra, San Jose, CA: February 4, 2006
Garden State Philharmonic (NJ): April 21, 2007
New England Conservatory Youth Symphony:
         Tour to Greece (Thessaloniki, Patras & Athens), June 2007
University of California/Riverside Symphony Orchestra:
         January 26-27, 2008
Symphony-by-the-Sea (MA): March 29-30, 2008
Knoxville Symphony Chamber Orchestra (TN): May 4, 2008
Elder Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, University of Adelaide,
         Australia: October 30, 2009 (with Yerakína)
Columbus Indiana Philharmonic: September 18, 2010
Sharon (MA) Community Chamber Orchestra: December 6, 2011
Terre Haute (IN) Symphony Orchestra: September 29, 2012
Nashua (NH) Chamber Orchestra: November 10 & 11, 2012
Carmel (IN) Symphony Orchestra: April 13, 2013
Brandeis University/Wellesley College (MA) Orchestra:
          April 27 & 28, 2013
Alma College (MI) Orchestra: February 16, 2014
Garden State Philharmonic (NJ): April 17, 2015
Terre Haute (IN) Symphony Orchestra: November 5, 2016
Plymouth (MA) Philharmonic Orchestra: April 1, 2017
Richmond (VA) Symphony: October 10 & 11, 2017 (4 performances)
Fall River (MA) Symphony Orchestra: October 29, 2017
Alma College (MI) Orchestra: February 18, 2018

Conductor response to Café Neon, as written in Orchestralist, an ongoing internet dialogue for orchestra professionals:

"The piece consists of Greek melodies, features the clarinet with several solos, and has some fast sections that are downright fun. I used it as the first piece on my season opener. Both audience and musicians loved it."
                          Emily Ray, conductor
                          Mission Chamber Orchestra, San Jose, CA

 

"The students absolutely adored playing the piece. The audience response was absolutely overwhelming. In both cities we had numerous people coming back stage to ask about the piece and the composer...I was honored to be a part of the European Premiere of this wonderful piece."
                         Chris Younghoon Kim, interim conductor
                         Tufts University (MA) Symphony Orchestra

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Steven Karidoyanes
Telephone / Fax: (617) 325-0645
Email: karidoyanes@comcast.net

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