WMU HOME > ABOUT WMU > WMU NEWS Symphony Orchestra opens season SundayOct. 3, 2005 KALAMAZOO--The Western Michigan University Symphony Orchestra will present its first concert of the 2005-06 season at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9, in Miller Auditorium. The public is invited to the free performance. Director Bruce Uchimura will conduct the ensemble. The program "Russian Tone Colors," will start with the Overture to "Colas Breugnon," an opera composed by Dimitri Kabelvsky in 1938. Also on the program are the famous and much loved "Polovetsian Dances" by Alexander Borodin. This set of dances was taken from Borodin's opera "Prince Igor." The music was re-orchestrated and revised by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1879 and is an orchestral masterpiece. The culminating work is the great Symphony No. 5 by Dimitri Shostakovich. This gargantuan work elevated Shostakovich to prominence in the eyes of the Communist Party, but behind the bold exterior lies music that is philosophical, sarcastic, and despondent. Media contact: Kevin West, (269) 387-4678, kevin.west@wmich.edu WMU News |