BSO to perform innovative sound-scapes in first 2010 concert
Three prominent composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries – the American Charles Ives, the Frenchman Claude Debussy and the Czech Antonin Dvorak – broke new ground by writing music reflecting the native cultures of their respective countries.
Their music will be featured during the first 2010 performance by the Bryan Symphony Orchestra at Tennessee Tech University, set for 3 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 21, in Wattenbarger Auditorium.
While reservations are limited for the Feb. 21 performance, there will be tickets available at the box office several hours before the performance begins, thanks to season subscribers who release their seats to the reservation line over the weekend. Call the box office for reservations or to be added to the standby list. Tickets are $28 for adults, $24 for seniors 65 and up, and $8 for students. Call 931-525-2633. The ticket window opens at noon on Sunday.
The performance is sponsored by Community Bank of the Cumberlands.
On the program is Ives’ gorgeous and poignant “Unanswered Question,” as well as Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 8.” Dvorak is as beloved by American audiences as by those in his native Czechoslovakia. A European who found American culture fascinating and valid, Dvorak taught in the United States in the 1890s.
“Dvorak’s ‘8th Symphony’ is his most masterful,” said BSO Music Director Dan Allcott. “It’s full of Czech character and comes from an incredible time of confidence, showcasing his ability to write a great piece in his own national style. Through his later teaching here, he gave us our own foundation for creating uniquely American music. Dvorak understood ‘source’ music – and in the United States, that often included Native American songs, hymns, band music and African-American spirituals.”
Dvorak directed the National Conservatory of Music in New York for several years beginning in 1892.
“Within about 10 years of Dvorak’s teaching visit to America you have the blossoming of Charles Ives, who loved the juxtaposition of the new with the old,” said Allcott. “I see a direct lineage from Dvorak to Ives. Ives could give us the sound of the New World thanks in part to Dvorak, who found beauty and originality in the music of the people – and re-interpreted it in the classical style. That’s an interpretation that has remained relevant to composers for more than a century now – composers who include our own Charles Faulkner Bryan, whose work resonated as much with the music he heard in the hills of Tennessee as with the music of the European masters.”
Also on the program is Claude Debussy’s “Premiere Rhapsodie,” or “first rhapsody,” a piece for solo clarinet and orchestra. The solo part will be played by TTU student musician Sara Rupe, this year’s winner of the Joan Derryberry Memorial Concerto Competition.
Concert week activities include:
• Concert preview luncheon in Crossville: 11 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 17, at the Palace Theater. Cost is $10 and payable at the door. Call 931-484-6133 for reservations by Monday, Feb. 15.
• Broadcast of "BSO Backstage": 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 17, on public television station WCTE-TV, Ch. 22 (local cable channel 10). The program, an original WCTE production hosted by Becky Magura with guests Allcott and Gail Luna, executive director of the BSO, rebroadcasts at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 20.
• Concert preview lecture by TTU music faculty member Catherine Godes: 2 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 21, Room 223 of the Bryan Fine Arts Building.
• Post-concert dinner at Mauricio’s Italian Restaurant, located at 232 N. Peachtree Ave., Cookeville. Call 931-525-2633 for reservations by Friday, Feb. 19.
The Bryan Symphony Orchestra, a member of the League of American Orchestras, is the only professional symphony in a rural area of Tennessee. Wattenbarger Auditorium is the concert hall of the Bryan Fine Arts Building on the TTU campus. Learn more about the BSO’s programs by visiting its web site at www.bryansymphony.org.
