This inaugural performance of the "El Portal Overture" by James Domine commemorates the occasion of the San Fernando Valley Symphony Orchestra’s debut at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, California. Originally composed in 1977 by a 25-year-old James Domine for an opera that never materialized, the Overture emerges repurposed for tonight’s concert thereby rescued from obscurity. The "El Portal Overture" consists of an operatic slow introduction marked Andante mesto that leads directly into an Allegro that is set in sonata form. At the opening of the exposition, the principal theme establishes a feeling of bold enthusiasm enhanced by martial flourishes with heroic overtones. The lyrical subordinate theme marked Cantabile provides a warm playful gracefulness that contrasts with the energetic nature of the first theme. The interplay and development of these two thematic ideas can be characterized as a musical tapestry that is woven together of melodic strands blending harmoniously into an animated symphonic whole. The development fantasia commences with a statement of the principal theme this time in the lower register played by the cello and bassoon parts. Through an unfolding series of sequential episodes, the musical narrative winds its way inexorably back to the recapitulation. The Andante mesto theme returns before the final coda as a type of ritornello that balances the two moods of the Overture. The astute listener will perceive the four-part coda that brings the El Portal Overture to a happy if somewhat extended conclusion.

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