Main MenuNEWS RELEASE
Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu
)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
2/15/2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES-The Natchitoches Northwestern Symphony Orchestra will premier a work by Northwestern State alumnus Nettie Chenevert of Bunkie and showcase four of the winners of the NSU Concerto Competition at a concert to be held Thursday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is $5 and free for NSU students with I.D. Richard Rose is the orchestra's conductor.
The concert will open with the orchestral premiere of Chenevert's "Grand Terre Overture." The program also includes "Concerto in G Minor for Oboe and Strings" by George Frederick Handel featuring Joshua Arvizu of Leavonworth, Kan., a movement from Haydn's "Concerto in E Flat Major for trumpet and Orchestra" featuring Randel Babin of Natchitoches on trumpet and a movement from Jacques Ibert's "Concert for Flute and Orchestra" featuring Zendra White of Abbeville on flute.
Tenor Shane Garner of Coushatta will be featured on "Qesto e quello" and "La donna e mobile" from Rigoletto by Verdi. The fifth winner of the Concerto Competition, trombonist James Meadors of Natchitoches, will play with the orchestra on May 2. The orchestra will also perform Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" and Beethoven's "Symphony No. 1."
"This is an opportunity for us to showcase some of the students in our program as well as a former student," said Rose.
According to Rose, the work by Chenevert is reminiscent of the soundtrack of "Steel Magnolias."
"Nettie sent me a tape of the work with a Christmas card. I heard it and thought it sounded great," said Rose. "I called her right away and asked if she would send the music."
Rose said the work by Handel will be familiar, calling it
"a typical baroque concerto with four short movements."
According to Rose, Haydn was the "father of the classical period."
"Haydn was a composer that everyone looked up to," said Rose. "He was one of the most prolific composers."
The work by Ibert, a modern French composer, will be "very demanding of the flutist," Rose said while the Verdi arias will be among the most famous done for tenors.
Rose said Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" was one of 10 fanfares commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony to foster patriotism. The work, which premiered in 1943, was the only one which has survived.
According to Rose, Beethoven was "probably the greatest symphonic writer."
"Beethoven was the bridge from Mozart and Haydn to later composers. In his work, you hear some of the classical traditions and some of what you hear can be forceful," he said.