SSO Bruckner Concert February 3
SALISBURY, MD--The Salisbury Symphony Orchestra at Salisbury State University will present its most ambitious program yet in a bonus winter concert Saturday, February 3, featuring works by Anton Bruckner and Toshiro Mayuzumi.
Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 in E-flat (The Romantic) is a tour de force for orchestras, a challenging large-scale symphony with unendingly beautiful melodies and massive orchestral texture. The SSO will have 68 players on stage, the most ever, for The Romantic symphony in four movements that lasts an hour and 20 minutes. It is a mature piece for an orchestra that has matured during its 15 years on stage at Holloway Hall.
"Unlike earlier symphonies, this one should not be taken apart. Quite often we play parts of symphonies that have beautiful music in them, instead of playing the whole thing, but in Bruckner the symphony is a whole, with melodies that repeat throughout the piece," says Dr. Thomas G. Elliot, the SSO's conductor and music director. "Knowing the length of The Romantic symphony in advance, we believe people will be able to sit back, relax and enjoy it."
Austrian-born Bruckner (1824-1896) was an organist who was greatly influenced by the dramatic orchestration of Richard Wagner. Bruckner's career took him to Munich, where he was received into the master composer's circle of intimate friends and followers. His symphonic music reflects both his adulation of Wagner and his dedication to God.
The concert's first half will be highlighted by Toshiro Mayuzumi's Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra, with Dr. Charles F. Smith and Christopher Reavis featured on timpani. This very contemporary piece employs idioms of both Japanese and European culture, and it will have 10 timpani--five on each side of the stage, stereo fashion -- with the orchestra in between. The music is exciting and energetic.
The concert will take place at 8 p.m. in Holloway Hall Auditorium at Salisbury State University. Gold Pass SSO patrons may use their passes for admission. Tickets are $15 for adults, and $8 for seniors 60 and above and students 18 and under. Tickets are available through any SWAC outlet (Peninsula Bank and Bank of Delmarva branches) or at the door the night of the concert. For information, call 410-548-5587. ABOUT THE TIMPANI SOLOISTS CHARLES SMITH has served as the principal percussionist for the SSO since its founding in 1986, and for the past 12 years has been the vice president and educational coordinator of the family-owned business Salisbury Music & Instrument Repair. His other musical activities in the Delmarva region include directorship of the Salisbury Community Band since 1974, the Magi Festival Orchestra since 1994, numerous Salisbury Community Players productions, as well as membership in the Trinity United Methodist Church Choir. Earlier in his career, he spent nine years as director of instrumental music at James M. Bennett High School in Salisbury, and 16 years at SSU as its first director of bands and instructor of percussion. He received his Ed.D. in secondary music education from the University of Maryland, College Park during his tenure at SSU. He had received his Master of music from the Catholic University of America and his bachelor of music education from Southeastern Louisiana College. CHRISTOPHER REAVIS graduated from SSU in 1995 with a B.A. in music and studied percussion with Smith and Leo LePage. While at SSU he performed for and with the wind ensemble, chamber choir, jazz ensemble, percussion ensemble and the SSO. Currently he is an instrumental music teacher in the Indian River School District, teaches private percussion lessons at Salisbury Music and resides in Salisbury with his wife, Alyce. He is a freelance musician who still performs with the SSU Wind Ensemble but can also be seen performing in the Salisbury Community Band, playing for the Salisbury Community Players and in his own classic rock and blues band Across the Tracks. Reavis joined the SSO in 1991 as a senior at Mardela High School and has been a member for the past 10 years.