The fall concert season for the Starkville-MSU Symphony Association begins today in Lee Hall with an orchestra program for children followed by tonight’s extended orchestra performance, “English Elegance.”
This year is the 40th season for the symphony association. The group’s conductor will be Michael Brown, head of the department of music.
“English Elegance” will run for about an hour and 45 minutes, including the intermission, said secretary for the Starkville-MSU Symphony Association Ellen Boles.
The program will have six pieces that all have English backgrounds, she said.
The pieces include “Crown Imperial” by William Walton, “Romance for Bassoon and Orchestra” by Edward Elgar, “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” by Benjamin Britten, “Lark in the Clear Air” by Clifton Taylor, “Concerto for Two Violins in D minor” by J.S. Bach and three portraits from “The England of Elizabeth” by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Elaine Peterson, assistant professor of music at MSU, will be performing a solo on the Bassoon to Elgar’s piece.
“It’s romantic, but not as in love romantic. It’s kind of lush. It could be like lush, romantic-movie music almost. It’s very gooey and sweet and sticky,” she said.
In a solo, the orchestra provides the background to the soloist who is standing up front next to the conductor, Peterson said.
Some MSU students, community players, MSU faculty and a few string players from Alabama will be in the orchestra, she said.
Associate director of bands Clifton Taylor will guest conduct the piece he wrote, “Lark in the Clear Air, which received its name from a poem by Samuel Ferguson.
“The tune to which that poem was set is an Irish folk tune,” Taylor said.
The piece was originally created for the MSU wind ensemble when they went overseas, he said.
“The flute solo is kind of like the lark singing, or at least that is the intent,” Taylor said.
This concert will also have a variety of works, from solos to pure music pieces to some pieces that are written with the purpose of teaching, he said.
“The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” is one such purposeful piece. It features the different sections of the orchestra until finally bringing them all together, Taylor said.
“The Day One program actually has a team that is promoting performing arts,” said Joe Ray Underwood, a member of the Starkville-MSU Symphony Association.
The Day One learning community students ordered posters with instruments on them to take to the schools that do not have a music program, he said. This was to help the students get ready for the performance.
“This is only the second time we’ve had the full orchestra,” Underwood said.
Last year’s performance with the full orchestra was so successful that it proposed a grant for up to $5,000 this year from the Mississippi Arts Commission, he said.
The symphony association was granted $4,400 for the program as long as it matches at least what it gets from the grant, Boles said.
The program has cost about $12,000 altogether, including the fee for Lee Hall, the performers, the director, the rent or purchasing of the music and other costs, she said.
“English Elegance” will begin tonight at 7:30 p.m. and is free for everyone.
The children’s programs will be at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. in the Lee Hall auditorium for the Starkville and Oktibbeha county kindergarten through fifth graders, both home-schooled and at the local schools.
For more information, visit starkvillemsusymphony.org.