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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (9/06)
Contact: Hurley School of Music, 318-869-5235, or Lynn Stewart or Kelsey Johnson, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120 or 318-841-7265

Opening Oct. 2: 2006-07 Centenary College Hurley Orchestra Four-Concert Season Featuring Fourth Annual Faculty Soloists’ Series

SHREVEPORT, LA — Centenary College and the Hurley School of Music have announced the 2006-07 Hurley Orchestra Season, which will be performed in Anderson Auditorium just inside the front doors of the Hurley Music Building. This year’s Hurley Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Todd Gabriel, will feature the fourth annual Faculty Soloists Series.

The four-concert season opens Monday, Oct. 2, and follows with concerts on Dec. 4 and Feb. 12 and April 23, 2007. Each concert will be held at 8 p.m. on Mondays in Anderson Auditorium and each will be free and open to the public.

Oct. 2 Concert : Pianist Gay Grosz

The Oct. 2 concert features pianist Gay Grosz playing W.A. Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A Major, No. 23, K488. A graduate of Centenary and a longtime faculty member, Grosz has just returned from doctoral studies at LSU in Baton Rouge. The piano concerto is one of Mozart’s three written without oboes, featuring clarinets instead, and with a slow movement in a profound minor key setting. They were written at the height of his productivity, just before the Marriage of Figaro. "This one in particular, seems to be extremely personal in nature," Gabriel said.

The first half of the concert will offer a rainbow of styles surrounding the classical beauty of Mozart. A Baroque witty gem of program music for strings and harpsichord will be Ouverture Burleque de Quichotte by G. P. Telemann. After a formal French-style overture, a series of vignettes portraying the story of Cervantes’ Don Quixote and his larger than life squire, Sancho Panza, will be presented.

"At the beginning of the Classical period, one of the great violinists and teachers of the violin was Johann Stamitz. He built one of the first truly great orchestras at the Court of Manheim," Gabriel said. "His Pastorale Symphony, Opus 4, No. 2 for two horns, two flutes, strings and harpsichord, influenced practically every living composer of his day, including Mozart."

Hungary’s Bela Bartok was arguably one of the most remarkable minds to be involved with music and, Gabriel said, the Hurley Orchestra will show him in his role as musicologist with Rumanian Folk Dances for small orchestra (1922).

Dec. 4 Concert: Violist Adrienne Gabriel, Premiere of "Three...Carols"

Christmas will be celebrated on Dec. 4, 2006 with the Hurley Orchestra and faculty violist Adrienne Gabriel. She will present Ralph Vaughan-Williams' perhaps most enjoyable work written to date for solo viola and orchestra. The Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra is organized into three sets, beginning with a set of Christmas pieces.
The reflections of past English Christmas will be further explored with the premiere of Todd Gabriel’s “Three English Fifteenth Century Christmas Carols.”

Feb. 12 Concert: Winners of Concerto/Aria Competition

The talented winners of the Hurley Concerto /Aria Competition will be showcased Feb. 12, 2007.

April 23 Concert: Cellist Kristina Vaska-Haas

The fourth annual Faculty Soloists Series continues on April 23, 2007, with Shreveport Symphony Cellist Kristina Vaska-Haas playing the Haydn D Major Concerto. The winner of this years Composition Contest for High School Students will offer a world premiere from one of the country’s up-and-coming artists.

Dr. Todd Gabriel is assistant professor of Music at the Hurley School of Music. Besides his post as director of the Hurley Orchestra, he is professor of composition, theory and music history. The Hurley School of Music Orchestra is comprised of approximately 40 music and non-music majors.

For further information, contact Centenary's Hurley School of Music at 318-869-5235.

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