Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A concert featuring music of American composers--including a Starkville native--will be performed March 6 by the Starkville-Mississippi State University Symphony Orchestra.
Titled "American Ambiance," the free campus performance will begin at 7:30 p.m.in Lee Hall's Bettersworth Auditorium. Music department lecturer Simona Barbu will conduct.
A John Williams-composed movie overture based on "The Cowboys," a 1972 John Wayne film, opens the program, followed by Samuel Barber's well-known "Adagio for Strings."
Assistant professor Rebecca Wascoe joins the orchestra as vocalist for the final portion of the concert's first half. She will sing five favorites from "Old American Songs" by Aaron Copland, among them "Shall We Gather at the River" and "Ching-A-Ring Chaw."
The concert's second half begins with the world premiere of "Vivification" by Starkville native Albert Oppenheimer, a graduate student in composition at the New England Conservatory of Music.
To follow are:
--William Schuman's "New England Triptych," a suite based on compositions of early American hymnodist William Billings. The tunes include "Be Glad Then, America," "When Jesus Wept" and "Chester," an American Revolution marching song.
--A concluding tribute to the United States armed forces, including Morton Gould's "American Salute," an extended work of symphonic variations based on the folk song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."
For more about the concert, telephone the music department at 662-325-3070. For symphony association information, visit www.starkvillemsusymphony.org.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.