WMU News

University Orchestra offers free concert Sunday

Oct. 1, 2001

KALAMAZOO -- The 88-member University Symphony Orchestra from Western Michigan University's School of Music will present its first concert of the 2001­02 season on Sunday, Oct. 7, begin at 3 p.m. in Miller Auditorium. Admission is free.

Conductor Bruce Uchimura will lead the ensemble as it performs a variety of symphonic favorites. Sunday's program will appropriately open with an overture, Mikhail Glinka's Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla, a fun and light work which is perhaps one of the favorite overtures in the orchestral repertoire. Sergei Prokofiev's Suite to Lieutenant Kijé will follow. This suite is a compilation of music from the film "Lt. Kije," which is based on the story of Tsar Paul's mistake in reading an officer's name, resulting in the creation of a fictitious officer to receive the Tsar's honors. This theme suited the composer's satirical talent.

Sunday's concert will close in grand fashion with one of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's most well-known symphonies, No. 4 in F Minor. Conductor Uchimura states of the piece, "Each movement features Russian folk and nationalistic music, lively orchestral colors, tempi, and virtuosic playing from all sections of the ensemble."

Media contact: Kevin West, 616 387-4678, kevin.west@wmich.edu


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