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Rogue Valley Symphony showcases trumpeter Dan Kocurek Trumpeter Dan Kocurek and the Rogue Valley Symphony will showcase works by Sergei Vasilenko and Astor Piazzolla. [Mail Tribune / Denise Baratta] Wednesday Feb 22, 2017 at 11:49 AM Feb 22, 2017 at 5:52 PM Laurie Heuston Revels Trumpet players have brass. If it weren't for trumpet player Timofei Dokshizer, says Ashland trumpeter Dan Kocurek, Russian composer Sergei Vasilenko's Concert Poem, Opus 113, for trumpet and orchestra may never have become known to the Western world. "The Vasilenko is a lesser-known concerto," he says. "Like lots of things in Soviet Russia, it never left the republic. But it has an interesting history. Written in 1949, it premiered later that year, but the performance was never finished because the soloist became ill. So it sort of died until the prominent Dokshizer wanted to record it." Vasilenko at first refused, as he was under contract to an opera house and only its musicians could record his work, Kocurek says. "Offended, Dokshizer wrote a snarky letter to the composer," he laughs. "Finally, Vasilenko agreed to let him record the piece, but the composer wanted to conduct. Dokshizer turned him down and recorded it with a totally different orchestra." Kocurek will be featured as soloist of the Rogue Valley Symphony's performance of the Concert Poem, with shows set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, in the Music Recital Hall, 405 S. Mountain Ave., at SOU in Ashland; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Craterian Theater, 23 S. Central Ave., Medford; and 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, in the Grants Pass Performing Arts Center, 830 Ninth St. RVS conductor Martin Majkut will present talks one hour before performances. Tickets are $36, $42, $48 or $55 for the Ashland show; $15, $25, $31, $36, $42 or $48 for the Medford show; and $15, $22, $30 or $37 for the Grants Pass show. Tickets are $10 for ages 18 and younger at all shows. Tickets can be purchased online at rvsymphony.org or by calling 541-708-6400. "We will be the first professional orchestra to perform the Vasilenko concerto in its entirety in the U.S.," Kocurek says. "Due to an elusive publisher and lack of exposure, it just hasn't been played here in full orchestral form." Majkut and Kocurek, who shares a principal trumpet seat with Bruce Dresser for the symphony, have chosen two works for the concert that are not part of the standard repertoire for trumpet and orchestra. Vasilenko's Concert Poem will be paired with a 2009 arrangement of Astor Piazzolla's Libertango, written for trumpet and orchestra by Julian Milone of London's Philharmonia Orchestra. "What sets the two apart as great pieces of music is that they are quite different from what trumpet normally performs in front of an orchestra," Kocurek says. "Our orchestra will be the first in the country to perform Milone's Libertango without trumpet soloist Alison Balsom. There was an agreement between Balsom's management and the arranger that she would be the only one to perform it for a long time, which happens quite a bit in the orchestral world." Libertango was originally written in 1974, he says. Composer Piazzolla is known for taking the genre from the cafes to the concert halls. "He took the dance forms and made them available to concert-goers," Kocurek says "Libertango was originally written for a small chamber group. Piazzolla played an instrument called a bandoneon. It's of the accordion family, just a little smaller." The two pieces showcase different aspects of the trumpet's personality, says Majkut, in a press release. Soft, sultry rhythms fill the Milone arrangement, and a more mellow side of the trumpet's timbre is revealed, while Vasilenko's Concert Poem shows the trumpet as a heroic instrument hearkening back to its military origin, like leading the masses. "It's quite virtuosic," Kocurek says. "It's difficult to make it sound as flowing and easy as it needs to be. But I'm up for it. It's very tuneful. The third movement has ragtime rhythms and quotes from 'The Nutcracker.' I like to think of it as if Tchaikovsky and Scott Joplin got together to write a trumpet concerto. It's fun. The second movement sounds like a reflective jazz ballad, and the first movement is fiery, exciting and cinematic." Ludwig van Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3 and Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 also will be included in the RVS program. Kocurek was born in Klamath Falls and received formal classical training under Brian McWhorter at University of Oregon and Larry Knopp and Martin Berinbaum at University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He's lived and worked in Vancouver, B.C., and Los Angeles. He worked as lead trumpet in 2010 with Dallas Brass, performing in about 40 U.S. states. He is artistic director and conductor of Rogue Valley Symphonic Band and the Southern Oregon University Concert Choir, and he leads the trumpet studio at the Oregon Center for the Arts at SOU. He also is lead trumpet with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Kocurek and his wife, pianist Christine Eggert, tour the West Coast and Canada as Les Deux.