BGSU Philharmonia gives final fall concert

BOWLING GREEN, O.—The Bowling Green Philharmonia will present its final concert of the fall season at 8 p.m. Dec. 1 in Kobacker Hall of the Moore Musical Arts Center. Dr. Emily Freeman Brown, director of orchestral activities, will conduct the performance, which will include works by Samuel Adler, Samuel Barber and Hector Berlioz.

“Centennial: A Celebration for Symphony Orchestral” by Adler, was commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in celebration of its 100th anniversary. Barber’s “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14” will feature soloist Dr. Penny Thompson Kruse. Kruse, a BGSU associate professor of violin, trained at Northwestern and Yale universities and earned a doctorate from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

The program will conclude with “Symphonie Fantastique Op. 14” by Berlioz. “Symphonie Fantastique” is actually the work’s subtitle. “An Episode in the Life of an Artist” is its proper name. It is one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period, and is still very popular with concert audiences worldwide.

“Symphonie Fantastique” is considered program music because it tells the story of an artist with a vivacious imagination, who has taken an overdose of opium in an attempt to remove himself from the despair he feels. It comprises five movements instead of the conventional four. The first is titled “Daydreams-Passions,” where the artist falls madly in love with his ideal woman. The second is “A Ball,” in which the artist is at a ball but cannot enjoy himself because he believes he sees the beautiful woman everywhere he looks. The third movement, “Scene in the Country,” is where the artist contemplates his fear of being alone. In movement four, “March to the Scaffold,” the artist is convinced he has killed his lover, poisons himself with opium and dreams that he is witnessing his own execution. In the fifth and final movement, titled “Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath,” the artist dreams of his own funeral, at which witches, sorcerers and monsters have gathered.

Advance tickets for the event are $10 for adults and $7 for senior citizens, with a $3 increase the day of the performance. The special student rate is $5 for students who bring a canned good. Tickets can be purchased at the center box office weekdays from noon to 6 p.m. or by calling 419-372-8171 or toll-free 1-800-589-2224.

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(Posted November 17, 2010 )