Laredo Phil Opens 38th Concert Season Oct. 29
“Orchestral Families” – the 38th season of concerts produced by the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra - opens Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017 at 3 p.m. at Texas A&M International University’s Center for the Fine and Performing Arts’ Recital Hall with a program titled “Sumptuous Strings.”
Tickets for the full season of four concerts cost $80 and $20 for each concert. Students of all ages are admitted free of charge. Tickets can be purchased at the door or via the Orchestra’s website, www.laredophil.com.
For 37 years, the Laredo Phil has consistently sought to engage with the local community through unique concerts that both entertain, and educate the audience. This year’s theme focuses on the four instrumental families linked within the Orchestra.
“Opening the season with the String Family is our way of signaling the essential difference between and Orchestra and a band, i.e. the string instruments,” said music director Brendan Townsend.
He noted most people will be familiar with the main theme from the William Tell Overture which was used as the music for the Lone Ranger TV show and has been used in many movies -- but the solo cello introduction is sure to surprise many at concert’s opening.
A work for strings alone by the Austrian composer Robert Fuchs will underline the sumptuous nature of the string sound, while their virtuosity will be on full display in the lively and tuneful “Italian Symphony” by Felix Mendelssohn.
A hallmark of Laredo Phil music programming has always been the inclusion of a work by a living American composer. This concert is no exception, with the ebullient and flamboyant “Hues” – a set of three poems – by Dan Locklair. This work is somewhat more familiar to some as one of the movements is often performed by symphonic band.
The lighter and more playful side of maestro Townsend’s programming is the inclusion of “Fiddle Faddle” by Leroy Anderson, whose music was frequently commissioned and played by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the late Arthur Fiedler.
“Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony is such as joyous work that it provides the perfect vehicle to showcase our wonderful orchestral family,” said Townsend, noting, “It is something that the entire family – children included – will enjoy.”
“Sumptuous Strings” begins promptly at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 29 at the Center for the Fine & Performing Arts Recital Hall on the TAMIU campus.
For more information, visit the Philharmonic’s website at www.laredophil.com or call Angeline Townsend, general manager, at 956.236.7772.