Provided by the Heartland Festival Orchestra
The Heartland Festival Orchestra is proud to announce the fourth concert of the HFO inaugural season. This concert is titled “Music Alive”, because it has a theme of animals which come alive through musical portrayal. However it also shines a spotlight on the excellence of our musicians in a program which might just as well have been named, “Variations in Virtuosity”.
The animals theme lends itself perfectly to the HFO charity partnership for this concert with the Peoria Zoo. Yvonne Strode, Director of the Peoria Zoo, said, “The Peoria Zoo is very happy to be working with the Heartland Festival Orchestra. Both of us are in the business of offering a safe, family-friendly environment for fun and learning to appreciate new sights and sounds. The sweet sound of a violin and the harsh call of a lemur both excite the listener and hopefully make them want to hear more”.
Artistic Director David Commanday will play solo cello in a special rendition of "The Dying Swan" from Camille Saint-Saens' "Carnival of the Animals", accompanying ballerina Rebekah von Rathonyi as she dances a solo work choreographed for the legendary Anna Pavlova. Ms. von Rathonyi is the Peoria Ballet Academy Director.
In this program we travel in time, first with a piece by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi; “The Birds”, in which this brilliant 20th Century composer re-sets a number of 17th and 18th Century compositions in his own style for modern chamber orchestra. Each piece is a 'portrait' of a bird: dove, hen, nightingale, and cuckoo. This work takes particular advantage of every nuance and subtlety of which the woodwinds are capable, and our fine players are more than up to the challenge!
20th Century Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera's "Concert Variations" gives a solo moment to every principal player in the orchestra - strings (and harp), winds, and brass, in a series of brilliant, colorful, and powerful variations on a single theme. This work is not supposed to be about animals, but it certainly provides a guided tour of the orchestral menagerie in this beautiful and rhythmically exciting work.
The program concludes with a classical treat: Haydn's rollicking Symphony No. 82, nicknamed "The Bear", rounding out our animal theme in honor of our beneficiary partner, the Peoria Zoo.
Peoria Zoo staff members will be on hand with select animals to be experienced up close before the concert and during intermission. Kidder Music will provide a "petting zoo" of musical instruments for concertgoers as well.
Where: Caterpillar Performing Arts Center at Five Points Washington
When: Saturday, March 20, 2010, 7:30 PM
How: Tickets ($27, $7 Student and Child) can be purchased via our website www.heartlandfestivalorchestra.org or in person in Peoria at Kidder Music and in Washington at Five Points Washington. Call the HFO at 309-339-3943 for more information.
SPECIAL TREAT:
The Heartland Festival Orchestra Concertmaster Sarah Gentry and violinist Laura Hourt can be heard at 1:30 PM on Saturday March 13th during the Peoria Zoo “Remarkable Reptiles” special event. More information is at http://www.peoriazoo.org/specialevents.html