(February 2007)

Media contact: Dr. Todd Gabriel, Hurley School of Music, 318-869-5235, or Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120

Hurley Orchestra to Present Concerto/Aria Competition Winners during Feb. 12 Concert

SHREVEPORT, LA — Centenary College's Hurley Orchestra, directed by Dr.Todd Gabriel, will present this year's Hurley Concerto/Aria Competition student winners Monday, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. in the Hurley School of Music's Anderson Auditorium. The concert is free and open to the public.

Centenary students performing will be Katie Matza of Houston, Texas, piccolo; Billie Harland of Vidor, Texas, baritone; Lucy Fleigel of Los Fresnos, Texas, flute; and Christine Linschoten of Baton Rouge, La., piano.

Matza, a sophomore, will perform some driven, virtuosic Italian Baroque music by Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1741). The C major, three movement concerto, originally for recorder, was written for a female student at the Ospedale della Pieta in Venice almost 300 years ago.

Fleigel, freshman flutist, will perform a lush Romantic French work by the female composer Cecile Chaminade (1857-1944). Chaminade wrote prolifically, and nearly all of her approximately 400 compositions were published in her lifetime. The music is tuneful and highly accessible, with clear textures and mildly chromatic harmonies, with a typically French wit and vibrant color.

Harland, a senior, will sing the Count's elegant-yet-fiery aria from the Marriage of Figaro by W.A. Mozart (1756-91). He rages over his discovery that Susanna has tricked him. The aria almost suggests in its beauty and refinement that the Count has a special right to his anger, that he has a justification for his rage.

The final soloist for the evening, Linschoten, who is a freshmen, will also perform Mozart. The Piano Concerto, K466 is in D minor, Mozart's most serious and reflective key, the one he chose for his Requiem and the dark opera Don Giovanni. It has a brooding nature. This concerto, completed Feb. 10, 1785, was written during a visit from his father, and a difficult period for Mozart in Vienna. Both Beethoven and Brahms were very fond of this work. Beethoven performed it often as a young man, and Linschoten will perform one of his cadenzas for the first movement.

Dr. Gabriel, a graduate of the Juilliard School in New York City, also holds a Masters of Music degree from Louisiana State University and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Arizona.