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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (11/03)
Contact: Hurley School of Music, 318-869-5235, or
Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120

Hurley Chamber Orchestra at Centenary to Present Free Public Concert Nov. 17 Featuring Nationalistic Music from England, Sweden, Austria

SHREVEPORT, LA--The Hurley Chamber Orchestra at Centenary College, under the direction of Dr. Todd Gabriel, will perform a program of nationalistic music from England, Sweden and Austria at 8 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17 in the Anderson Auditorium of the Hurley Music Building. The program is open to the public at no charge.

Opening the concert is Two Songs Without Words, Country Song and Marching, by Gustav von Holst (1874-1934). Composer of the popular orchestral suite The Planets, Holst reflects in these two works his lifelong interest in English folk music and a fascination with Sanskrit literature. Country Song features junior Malinda De Busk on clarinet. The string section is featured in a virtuosic display of technique and Swedish nationalism in the String Serenade by Dag Wiren (1905-1983). This is a Romantically oriented work with a unique tonal language in which rhythmic vitality and satisfying melodic beauty are the main features.

The second half of the program presents one of the great masterpieces of the Classical period, Symphony No. 96 in D Major, "The Miracle Symphony" by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). Credited as the founder of the Viennese School of Composition, the inventor of the symphony and the father of instrumentation, it is easy to understand why his contemporaries referred to him as Papa Haydn. This pivotal work in music history, No. 96 of his 125 symphonies, looks both backwards to the Concerto Grosso style of the Baroque and ahead to the Romantic approach to orchestration used by Beethoven and Brahms. Lara Daigle, junior in music theory and composition, is featured on the oboe.

For more information, contact the Hurley School of Music at 318-869-5235.

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