LPO in Concert Here Sunday at 4 p.m.
The award-winning Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) will present the second installment of its “Myths & Legends” concert season with “Epic Moments” this Sunday, Oct. 28 at 4 p.m. at Texas A&M International University’s Center for the Fine and Performing Arts’ Recital Hall.
Individual concert tickets are $25 for adults and $17 for seniors. Laredo Community College and TAMIU students are admitted free of charge with current student ID card.
“The concert theme takes its inspiration from stories that have pivotal moments that are crucial to the plot, as in the case of a Phoenix who must die in flames before rising from the ashes,” said Brendan Townsend, music director.
A central part of this concert will once again be an opportunity for Laredo audiences to meet and visit with a young, lively, and talented composer.
The composer featured in this concert is Heather Schmidt who will perform as piano soloist in her own “Phoenix Ascending” (Piano Concerto No. 4).
“Heather’s music is very understandable and filled with incredible depth,” explained Townsend. “This is music that paints images in our mind’s eye through sound.” Schmidt’s presentation follows last month’s LPO premiere of “Battle for Brosna” by composer Peadar Townsend.
Other works on the program include the very popular “Overture to Candide” by Leonard Bernstein, which recent graduates of Martin High School will remember from their band experience.
Also being performed is the deceptively simple “Legend No. 4” by Antonin Dvorak, and the well-known “Pélleas et Mélisande Suite” of Gabriel Fauré.
Concluding the concert is a work that will surely send everyone home tapping their feet and bursting with joy: “Fandangos” by Roberto Sierra. “Fandangos” is a modern, Puerto Rican version of an old Spanish dance that critics have described as being “full of the joy and bright sunlight of his native Puerto Rico.”
The LPO is a recipient of a 2006-07 American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Award for contemporary music programming.
“It is such unique programming as combining Dvorak, Fauré, Sierra and Schmidt that brought us this ASCAP recognition for Adventurous Programming this year,” said Townsend.
Three other concerts remain in the season.
Dates, titles and concert locations follow:
Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008 - “Tales from the Orient,” Laredo Community College’s Guadalupe and Lilia Martínez Fine Arts Center.
Sunday, March 2, 2008 – “Legends of Love,” LCC’s Martínez Fine Arts Center.
Sunday, April 27, 2008 – “In the Beginning,” TAMIU’s Center for the Fine and Performing Arts’ Recital Hall.
For more information, please contact Brendan Townsend, LPO director, at 326.3039 or e-mail btownsend@tamiu.edu
Tickets are on sale at the Laredo Center for the Arts, 725.1715. They are also available for purchase at the door.
Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at prmis@tamiu.edu