Southeast opens orchestral season with concert featuring classic, modern composers

EDITOR'S NOTE: The time of the event has been corrected.

The sounds from the Baroque era to today and the return of a talented guest cellist will mark the Gala Season Opening Concert of the Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra on Tuesday at Bedell Performance Hall.

Under the direction of Dr. Sara Edgerton, the orchestra will present works from classical composers such as Modest Mussorgsky and Joseph Haydn as well as modern pieces from American composer Philip Glass.

"The opening concert of the Southeast Missouri Symphony should be very exciting and fun for our audience," Edgerton said. "Every piece will be audience-friendly toe tappers."

The concert also will feature guest virtuoso cellist Patrice Jackson, a St. Louis native who will be making her return to the River Campus after her 2011 performance at Bedell with violinist Mark O'Connor.

"We are thrilled to welcome back Patrice Jackson, who will be performing beautiful works for cello and orchestra," Edgerton said. "She's so much fun to work with, and I'm sure she'll inspire the students to perform well."

The concert will open with an overture by the great Baroque composer, Handel, followed by "Concerto for Two Cellos" by Vivaldi. Edgerton and Jackson will perform the two solo cello parts in Vivaldi's work.

"It's like a dialogue that goes back and forth," Edgerton said. "I'm really looking forward to performing with Patrice."

Jackson, a graduate of the Juilliard School in New York City and the Tale School of Music in New Haven, Conn., has won numerous competitions and awards throughout her career and has performed with the symphonies of St. Louis, Atlanta, Dallas, Cincinnati and Nashville.

"I'm looking forward to performing in Cape Girardeau again," Jackson said in a telephone interview from New York City. "I won't let anyone down, and I encourage people to come out and enjoy what will be a really good show."

The concert will continue with music by the great classical composer, Joseph Haydn, when the orchestra performs the finale to his "Symphony No. 48." Jackson will return to the stage as the cello soloist in Haydn's brilliant "Cello Concerto in C Major."

The second half of the concert will feature music from the late 19th and 20th centuries, written for the full orchestra. The orchestra will perform the fanfare-like "Flourishes" by American composer Christopher Theofanidis, followed by a movement of the intriguing "Low Symphony" by American composer Philip Glass. The "Low Symphony" was based on material from David Bowie's album "Low" and is a fusion of pop, minimalism and jazz influences.

"The wish for this concert was to include variety, and I think that will be borne out," Edgerton said.

The concert will conclude with the masterpiece "Night On Bald Mountain" by Mussorgsky. The work centers on the Russian legend of the witches' Sabbath on the eve of the feast day of St. John and is similar to the tradition of Halloween, Edgerton said.

"The legend involves dancing witches, ghosts and goblins," she said. "We'll be performing 'Night On Bald Mountain' in time for the Halloween season."

The Gala Season Opening Concert of the Southeast Missouri Symphony is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Bedell Performance Hall with a short preconcert talk at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are $19 and $16 and may be bought at the River Campus box office in the Cultural Arts Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by calling 651-2265. Tickets also may be purchased by visiting rivercampusevents.com.

klewis@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address: 518 S. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, MO