"Ides of March" concert set at Centenary
SHREVEPORT, LA — The Louisiana Contemporary Music Ensemble, a new collaboration between longtime friends and colleagues from Centenary College, Northwestern State University, and the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, will perform a concert of classic late 20th century musical works on Tuesday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Centenary’s Anderson Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.
The Louisiana Contemporary Music Ensemble includes Centenary lecturers in music Sally Horak and Theresa Zale Bridges along with Hundemer, Paul Christopher, and Peter Haas.
"Paul and I have talked a bit in the past about doing more contemporary music and performing it on a regular basis, and this program is one result," says Hundemer. "We do plan on doing more concerts of this nature in the future and want to get non-profit status and start raising some funds - we're doing this concert gratis, just donating our time to the effort. We wanted to start with 'classic' 20th century works, the latter half of the century to be more precise."
The program includes the delicate lyricism of "Two Instruments" (1962) by the American contrarian Morton Feldman, who was influenced primarily by the New York abstract expressionist painters; French composer Olivier Messiaen's epic "Interstellar Call" from his Bryce Canyon-inspired "From the Canyons to the Stars" (1971-74); Finnish master Kalevi Aho's "7 Inventions and a Postlude" (1996/98); Greek composer, architect, WW II resistance fighter and mathematician Iannis Xenakis's "Roscoebeck" (1996); and work from minimalist composers Steve Reich ("Vermont Counterpoint" for flute and recorded flutes) and California-based Terry Riley (the path-breaking "In C" from 1963). Some special guests will join the Ensemble for Riley's "In C."
The group will also be performing at Magale Auditorium at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches on Monday, March 14.