Centenary Youth Orchestra plans virtual concert January 17
SHREVEPORT, LA — The Centenary Youth Orchestra (CYO) will offer a virtual concert on Sunday, January 17, at 7:00p.m. The concert will be streamed on the Hurley School of Music Facebook page.
“This is a wonderful performance” said CYO Dan Santelices. “The playing and visuals are moving to me, and I am particularly proud of the young musicians and their families who followed Centenary’s Forward Safely protocols to continue to meet and make music during a challenging semester. It is our New Years and post-Holiday gift to the College and community.”
In lieu of a live concert, Santelices recorded individual pieces during the orchestra’s final fall semester class times. Centenary student James Harris II took photos of the orchestra members in concert clothes, and student Brennen Templeton engineered the recording and coordinated the photos with the spirit of the music.
The concert features Centenary Professor Emeritus, Dr. Todd Gabriel, performing his own compositional rendering of Astor Piazzola’s Oblivion on solo viola with the CYO. Gabriel founded the CYO in 2014 and continued to direct the orchestra until his retirement in 2017.
“Piazzola, the Argentinian composer, bandoneon player, and Nuevo tango originator, wrote Oblivion at the height of his popularity in 1983 for an Italian movie,” said Gabriel. “He arranged the dark and brooding tango for viola and strings reminiscent of Piazzolla’s original bandoneon and string orchestra of the 1960s.”
Paul Hindemith’s Tuttifanchen Suite for chamber orchestra and the first and last movements of Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 are also part of the concert presentation. The latter composition is one of the most recognizable classical pieces every written.
“The famous opening four-note motive of ‘fate knocking at the door’ is literally the building block of all the movements, but most especially the first,” said Santelices. “For all of the minor-key brooding and restlessness of the first three movements, Beethoven—a believer in humanity, chose the ‘light’ of a major key to end his symphony in an undoubtedly triumphant manner.”
Music by the recently-deceased and Academy Award-winning composer (for The Hateful Eight) Ennio Morricone closes the program. “Se” or the love-theme from Cinema Paradiso, features CYO co-concertmaster Neelie Lim on violin and Centenary pianist, Hannah Jordan. CYO principal oboe Hannah Hobson is featured on “Gabriel’s Oboe” from The Mission. “If I Loved You" from Once Upon A Time In America will also be performed.
“The orchestra really took to the cinematic style of Morricone and their playing truly hits a home-run out of the park,” said Santelices. “I felt compelled, after his passing this past July, to have our orchestra perform music by Morricone. His musical contributions to literally scores of films are those which I consider part of the soundtrack to my own life.”