Contact: Robbie S. Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Starkville/Mississippi State University Symphony Orchestra will begin the New Year with a Jan. 8 winter strings concert.
The String Superlatives concert, led by orchestra director Michael Brown, will feature music from baroque, classical and contemporary styles. Free and open to the public, the concert is at 7:30 p.m. in Lee Hall's Bettersworth Auditorium.
The program will begin with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachmusik," one of the most performed and recorded works for string orchestra in the repertoire, said Brown, also a professor and head of MSU's department of music. Next, MSU professor of music Jackie Edwards-Henry will perform a concerto for harpsichord and orchestra by J.S. Bach.
The second half of the program will include a world premiere and a United States premier. For the world premiere the orchestra will perform Shandy Phillips' "Concertino for Violin, Viola, Piano, and Orchestra." This piece showcases talents of the composer on violin; her sister, Holland Phillips, principal violinist with the Eugene, Org., Symphony; and Rose Sebba, MSU associate professor of music, on piano.
Concluding the event, the first public, U.S. performance of contemporary Latvian composer Rihards Zalupe's piece, "Concerto for Marimba and Strings," will feature the orchestra's principal percussionist and MSU assistant professor of music Jason Baker.
For more information, contact the MSU's department of music at 662-325-3070.