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Posted: 2/26/09

LPO’s ‘American Musical Heroes’ Sunday at TAMIU

 

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The award-winning Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra’s (LPO) concert series continues with “American Musical Heroes” Sunday, March 1 at Texas A&M International University’s Center for the Fine and Performing Arts’ Recital Hall at 3 p.m.

The concert will feature a guest performance by David Eaton who returns to Laredo to play Introduction and Allegro for organ and Strings by Walter Piston. The afternoon program will include “West Side Story Suite” by Leonard Bernstein, “Schindler’s List” selection by John Williams, and the ever-popular “Appalachian Spring” by Aaron Copland.

This program, which includes very accessible and well-known music that people have heard used in television and movie scores highlights the “cross-over” nature of music in the United States, said LPO Maestro Brendan Townsend.

“America is often referred to as a melting pot,” says Maestro Townsend, “so it is somewhat appropriate that the music of this country blends so many influences together.”

One such example of blending of influences can be seen in the use of folk-like sounds and Shaker melodies in the ballet score that forms the basis of “Appalachian Spring.” Ironically, the music has nothing to do with the title as the ballet is set in “rural America” not specifically in Appalachia or even the springtime, he noted.

The 2008-2009 LPO “Heroes” concert series will conclude with “Maestro’s Heroes,” scheduled for Sunday, May 3 at 3 p.m. at Laredo Community College’s Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center.

The concert will feature soloists Steven McMillan on the violin and Meryl Ettelson on the piano. The program will include “Aisling” by Declan Townsend, “Concerto for Violin and Piano” by Felix Mendelssohn, and another work by a Townsend hero.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $17 for seniors (62+). Students with school ID get in free.

For concert ticket information, please contact Townsend at 326.3039 or e-mail btownsend@tamiu.edu


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