Bryan Symphony Orchestra NEWS AND NOTES Volume 4, No. 4,  March, 1999

The Bryan Symphony Orchestra at TTU thanks
Drs. Burton & Bella Altura
of Brooklyn, NY
for sponsoring the March 28 Concert


Reminders

If you find that you cannot attend a concert,
please give your tickets to someone who can attend,
or donate them back to the orchestra for resale.

You are invited to attend the
Preview Lecture by Dr. Catherine Godes
March 28 2:00 p.m. Room 223
Bryan Fine Arts Building


Contents:

Contest for 5th and 6th graders in neighboring counties

If you are a 5th or 6th grader and live in Cumberland, Dekalb, Jackson, Overton, Smith, or White County, you have an opportunity to win free tickets to the Bryan Symphony Orchestra concert on April 18.

Just write to us, telling us why you would like to hear the orchestra. Our panel of judges will select a winner who will receive three complimentary tickets.

Please include:

Mail your entry to:

Bryan Symphony Orchestra at TTU
P.O. Box 185
Cookeville, TN 38503

Please mail your letter in time to reach us before March 25. We look forward to hearing from you!


Putnam Students Guests of Arts Council and Orchestra

As part of the education program of the Bryan Symphony Orchestra, students in each of the elementary schools in Putnam County will have an opportunity to win free tickets to the March 23 concert featuring Jared Steward playing marimba.

This program, funded in part by Cookeville Arts Council, will be coordinated by Arts Council President Kevin Fletcher and will be carried out through the music instructors in each of the Putnam County elementary schools, who will hold a competition with the winner receiving two complimentary concert tickets.

Names of the winners will be published in the April issue of Notes and Notices.


Jared Steward, March 28 Concert Soloist

Jared Steward, winner of the Joan Derryberry Award and featured performer on the March 23 concert, is the son of Bob and Ann Steward and a graduate of Cookeville High School. As a senior percussion performance major, he will be graduating this May with a B.M. in Music Performance. He is a freelance performer and teacher in the Upper Cumberland area in the fall of 1998 was hired as a faculty member with the Arts Cumberland division of TTU's Extended Education.

In 1997, he was awarded the Ruth Officer Dowell Scholarship, and in 1998, received the Charles F. Bryan Award for the outstanding musicianship. During his entire student career at TTU, he has been on the Dean's List, and in December 1998, was inducted as a member of the national leadership honor society, Omicron Delta Kappa. Mr. Steward is also a member of the Percussive Arts Society.

The first time Mr. Steward performed with an orchestra was when he made the second chair position in the Tennessee All-State Orchestra while in high school. This experience enhanced his desire to become a professional musician. During his schooling at Tennessee Tech, he has performed with most of the major ensembles and is currently principal percussionist of the TTU Symphony Band. He has performed with the Bryan Symphony Orchestra as a section percussionist since 1995. In the summer of 1998, he performed with the Rome Festival Orchestra and Opera in Rome, Italy. In March, 1998, he also performed with the Marimba Festival Orchestra in West Point, New York. Having a great interest in contemporary music, he founded the short-lived music ensemble Just Seven in 1997 and has plans to form another chamber group in the near future.

Following graduation, he will marry double bassist Tonya Braswell after which they will move to Boston to pursue careers in music.


THE CONDUCTOR'S NOTES

The upcoming Bryan Symphony Orchestra concert has a definite Italian flavor to it. Beginning with Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini, we are in the world of Italy.

The story related is Dante's Inferno section of the Divine Comedy and focuses upon Francesca and Paolo, two lovers condemned to live in the second circle of Hell. Francesca had married the lord of Rimini, a cruel and deformed man, whose brother, Paoli, had all the charm which his brother lacked.

One day when Francesca and Paolo were reading about Sir Lancelot, the story of the knight's love for Guinevere was too close to their own feelings for each other. At a point in the story when Guinevere's smile revealed her love, Francesca put the book down and, as Dante relates the story, "We read no more that day."

For this act of adultery, the two lovers share eternal damnation, living in a circle whose hurricane-like winds are a metaphor for unchecked passions. Tchaikovsky's music effectively tells this story of Hell, passion and damnation with all of the emotions you would expect from this eloquent composer.

The program will conclude with another work centered in Italy. Respighi's Pines of Rome evokes both the locations and the grand military history of Rome.

Beginning with children's games, this tone poem includes a visit to the ancient catacombs in which the early Christians celebrated their new religion with the singing of chant, a moonlight evening by the Villa Borghese, and the justly famous Appian Way music featuring the full orchestra recreating the splendor of ancient Rome.

Along the way, there is a bird song passage which was the first introduction of electronic technology into the symphony orchestra. Respighi even specified which record should be played in order to represent the new dawn.

Both works utilize a large orchestra; the Respighi even including piano, organ and additional brass in the Appian Way section.

Placed between these two famous works is a gem of a concerto for marimba and strings by Ney Rosauro. Elsewhere in this newsletter, you will have the opportunity to read about the Derryberry Award Winner, Jared Steward. He is an excellent musician with a very promising future awaiting him.

I know you'll enjoy his performance of this piece, which will feature the rhythms and enchanting harmonies of Brazil.

March 28 promises to be a delightful day of music making. I hope to see each of you there!


Bryan Symphony Education Committee plans fall weekend

Be A Part of the Family! is the theme for the BSO's education events to take place in October, 1999. A 5K run (Presto, Moderato, Andante) will be held on Saturday, October 2 as a BSO fund-raiser. Along the route, runners and walkers will be encouraged by student instrumentalists who will mark the route and entertain.

On Sunday, October 3, the BSO's education concert and education event, BSO Young Artist Festival, will be held on the grounds and in the Bryan Fine Arts Building. Young musicians will perform, and music specialists will lead activities which will tie in the BSO concert program.

As a part of the education activity for fall, a web page is being established, which will allow schools and families in the Upper Cumberland to access information regarding BSO programming and orchestra awareness. Classroom activity will be featured as well as links to other sites. Events, background of repertoire and composers and ideas to help prepare for the Be A Part of the Family - BSO Young ARtist Festival will be included.

At the beginning of the 1999-2000 school year, John Dodson and lInda Ferreira and other volunteers will present in-service presentations to teachers in Putnam, Jackson, White, Overton, CUmberland, Smith and DEkalb County schools to inform them about the BSO web page and the BSO education goals.

Linda Ferreira, Chair
BSO Education Committee



Herman & Catherine Godes featured on April concert

The April 18 concert will feature will-known pianists Herman & Catherine Godes with the orchestra presenting the Concerto for 2 Pianos in d minor by Francis Poulenc. This concert will be a sell-out, so order your extra tickets early.

In Wattenbarger Auditorium on Thursday, March 25, at 8 p.m. Mr. Godes will present a free recital of masterworks by Beethoven, Schumann, and Chopin. He will be joined by his wife, Catherine, in the world premier of a work by Robert Jager, Dialogues for 2 Pianos.


Thank You for Ticket Donations

For the February concert, over thirty tickets were donated back to the orchestra for resale. We want to say a big "Thank You" to all those donors. Because of your thoughtfulness, many parents were able to hear their children sing with the orchestra, and we raised over $500 for the orchestra.

However, we were saddened to walk into the auditorium at concert time and see many empty seats, after having told parents, "We have no tickets."

It is not easy to forget the mother turning to walk away from the ticket window with tears trickling down the cheeks of her little daughter's face. Our auditorium is too small! We are not able to move a wall and enlarge the auditorium, but if we work together, we can fill all the seats at every concert.

Again, thank you for your help in attaining this goal. To donate tickets, either mail your tickets to us at P.O. Box 185, Cookeville 38503, or call us at 372-6088, and we will issue duplicate tickets.


Preview Luncheon
Friday, March 26 - Noon
First Presbyterian Church
20 North Dixie Ave.

Make reservations by Wed., March 24
Call: Symphony Office 372-6088


The Bryan Symphony Orchestra
Office - Room 355 Bryan Fine Arts Building
372-6088
e-mail address:
jlundy@tntech.edu
Janet Lundy, Executive Director
and Co-Editor of Notes and Notices with Carolyn Whitson


Return to Table of Contents

Return to Music and Art Home Page

Return to Bryan Symphony Page

Go to TTU Home Page

This information maintained by Michael E. Clark
Last Updated: March 19, 1999
For more information, contact bryansymphony@tntech.edu