Centenary Youth Orchestra presents concert at Anderson Auditorium
SHREVEPORT, LA — The first concert of the Centenary Youth Orchestra (CYO)’s seventh season is set for Monday, November 15, at 6:30 p.m. in Anderson Auditorium at the Hurley School of Music on the Centenary College campus. The concert is free and open to the public.
All attendees must provide either a Centenary ID, proof of vaccination, or proof of recent (within the last 90 days) recovery from COVID-19. All attendees must wear masks.
The concert will open with Archangelo Corelli’s vivacious Concerto Grosso No. I in D-major, Op. 6.
“The Concerto Grosso format, which is an integral part of the Baroque style, pits a soloist or, in this case, a group of solo instruments against the whole of the orchestra," explained Dan Santelices, director of the CYO.
The soloists include CYO Concertmaster Cal Alexander, Principal Second Dominick Benedetto on violin, and Gene Angelo Nucal on cello. Both Benedetto and Nucal are freshmen music composition majors at Centenary.
The world premiere of Tragedy for string orchestra, by Centenary music and composition student Corey Bowe, will also be performed. Bowe, whose musical talents include piano and violin, was last seen in solo performance with the CYO in March 2019 performing the opening movement of Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1.
“Corey is an exceptional, cerebral, and industrious musician and student,” said Santelices. “His composition teacher, Dr. James Eakin, shared his composition with me last spring and it was a no-brainer for me to want program the work. The musical language he utilizes in creating ‘tragedy’ is hyper-chromatic, expressive, and a welcome technical challenge to the orchestra.”
Bowe says that the piece “…represents a struggle, be it a struggle between oppressor and the oppressed, or perhaps that of an internal personal conflict.”
The featured, concluding piece on the brief program is Camille Saint-Saens’ evocative and thrilling symphonic tone poem Danse Macabre, Op. 40.
“With our concert being positioned post-Halloween, I thought it would be wonderful finale," said Santelices. “The musical story includes that of Death, represented by a de-tuned violin. The playing at midnight awakens skeletons to come out from their graves and do their annual Graveyard Dance. The first dawn and rooster call, represented by the oboe, signals the end of the fantastical events.”
CYO Concertmaster Alexander, a student at Caddo Magnet High School - fresh from a remarkable solo performance with the Shreveport Symphony’s Family concert on October 25 - will perform the solo violin part representing Death. The Hurley School of Music’s harp, purchased by the Sims family in the early 2000s, will be played by Gene Angelo Nucal.
“I am excited to present this program which features not only our gifted students and respected Hurley School of Music instructors, but also a wide-range of musical expression,” said Santelices.