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Music for Mom and
Dad
By Neil Block
Collegian Freelancer
The
Hillsdale College/Community Orchestra makes its season debut
with two performances at the Sage Center for the Arts during
Parents Weekend, marking the 25th year of the Edwin Hames Memorial
Concert.
This
weekend's concert will feature a selection of popular American
pieces, beginning with Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, "From
the New World."
"It's
a well-known piece, so it's a good starter. … It's a piece
I've wanted to do," orchestra director Jim Holleman said.
Dvorak
wrote the symphony in 1893 during a three-year visit to America
from his home in Czechoslovakia. Interested in African-American
spirituals and traditional Indian music, some say the composer
was influenced by such music and the folk music of his homeland.
Dvorak clarified the influence of those styles on the New World
symphony in an 1893 New York Herald article:
"I
have not actually used any of the [Native American] melodies.
I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities
of the Indian music, and, using these themes as subjects, have
developed them with all the resources of modern rhythms, counterpoint,
and orchestral color."
Second
on the program is "Suite from 'The Tenderland'" by
Aaron Copland. "The Tenderland" was originally composed
as a TV opera in 1954 but instead premiered that year by the
New York City Opera. Copland arranged music from the opera into
an orchestral suite in 1956.
The
program will end with the overture to Johann Strauss Jr.'s "Die
Fledermaus," which was first performed in Vienna in 1874.
The Hillsdale College Opera Workshop will perform the piece
in conjunction with the orchestra.
The
concerts are at 8 p.m. on Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday,
and are free but require ticket reservations because of the
multiple performance dates.
An
afterglow featuring the Hillsdale College Big Band and refreshments
will begin at 10 p.m. in Howard Music Hall. Tickets and reservations
are not required for the afterglow.
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