Wednesday, October 19, 2011

SBU Chamber Orchestra to Present Eclectic Mix

Southwest Baptist University News Release
Contact: Sharina Smith, Office of Marketing & Communications
417-328-1803 / ssmith@sbuniv.edu

BOLIVAR, Mo. – The public is invited to attend a free concert featuring the Southwest Baptist University Chamber Orchestra with Conductor Dr. Brian K. Hopwood at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 1. The concert will be presented in the Meyer Recital Hall, Casebolt Music Center on the SBU Bolivar campus.

An eclectic mix of traditional and modern works is included in the concert program. Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons: “Violin Concerto in F major,” “Op. 8,” “No. 3,” “RV 293,” “L’autunno” (Autumn) will feature junior Molly Morgan (Springfield, Mo.) as violin soloist.

“St. Paul’s Suite” by Gustav Holst was composed in a period that is described as the Renaissance of English music. Holst incorporated the use of folk tunes and modal melodies in this work which he wrote for his students at the St. Paul’s School in London. The movements are dance-like with many contrasts in tempo, dynamics, and meter. A notable aspect of the final movement is a pairing of the “Dargason” melody with “Greensleeves,” which occurs twice in the work.

The Juilliard School Repertory Project commissioned Robert Washburn to write his “Serenade for Strings” in 1967. This neoclassic work utilizes the techniques of variation and canon within a mostly major and minor tonal framework, although there is a flavor of bitonality in one of the movements.

Borrowed from the piano repertoire, the “Hungarian Dance No. 5” by Johannes Brahms stirs up visions of dancing, violin-playing gypsies in a very fitting arrangement for strings. The very lyrical “As Summer Was Just Beginning” (Song for James Dean) by Larry Daehn will round out the program.

For more information, please call Dr. Hopwood at 417-328-1647 or email him at: bhopwood@sbuniv.edu.

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Southwest Baptist University is a leader among private universities in truly integrating Christ-centered academic pursuits with comprehensive professional programs at an affordable price. At SBU, the faculty and staff create a caring, academic community to prepare students to be servant leaders in a global society. For more information, visit www.SBUniv.edu.

SBU’s Office of Marketing and Communications is available to news media 24 hours a day at (417) 399-7918.