by Bill Cutler
Staff Writer
Playing its first concert for Appalachian State University this
year, the Appalachian Symphony Orchestra brings its finest to Rosen
Concert Hall Thursday.
Performing with the three student winners of the Concerto-Aria Contest,
the concert will features a solo movement by each. The contest itself
required all participants to prepare a 9-minute concerto movement
and perform it from memory for a panel of judges.
The first piece of the night, ‘Totentanz,” will feature
contest winner Edmund Chris Horgan IV on piano.
The Franz Liszt work, also known as “Dance of Death,”
is most commonly heard at funeral masses, painting a very aggressive
picture for the audience.
Maria Kindt is the second concerto winner, and her featured piece
“Romance for Viola and Orchestra” by Max Bruch offers
some of her viola playing in a change of pace from the first.
The last of the concerto pieces, “Piano Concerto in A Minor”
by Edvard Grieg features concerto winner Chrisa Howell and one of
the most recognized piano concertos in the world.
Ending the concert with “Capriccio Espagnol” by Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov, the orchestra shows off its own swagger with many
solos from each section of the ensemble.
“There are a lot of soloists through the last son, giving
almost every section of the Orchestra a chance to shine in the presentation,”
Music Director of the orchestra, James A. Anderson, said.
Led by Anderson for the second year, the group has found more and
more willing performers to join with a majority of music performance
majors.
A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and
Eastman Music School, Anderson has been working hard to keep the
orchestra one of Appalachian’s big recruiting draws, touring
the state’s high schools regularly.
The work has paid off too. The orchestra has been invited to play
at the North Carolina Music Educators Association as this year’s
featured college, a mark that has not been attained by Appalachian
State in 30 years.
“That’s a real big laurel for us. We’re getting
better and bigger each year with very strong freshmen and sophomores,”
Anderson said.
The 80-member orchestra is open to all types of age groups, including
students, non-music major and music major, faculty and staff, and
even community players.
It’s also known as one of the “working horse”
ensembles at Appalachian State, performing five to six concerts
each year.
Performing at Rosen Concert Hall this Thursday, the concert begins
at 8 p.m. and is free to the general public.
“The orchestra is open to everyone and we want to see everyone
come out and enjoy a really good show,” Anderson said.
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