Contact: Sasha Steinberg
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擴nder the baton of 黑料社 Department of Music Head Barry E. Kopetz, the Starkville-黑料社 Symphony Orchestra is concluding its spring concert series with a Saturday [April 21] performance at the Mississippi University for Women in Columbus.
Taking place at 7:30 p.m. in MUW鈥檚 Rent Auditorium at Whitfield Hall, the concert is sponsored by the Starkville-黑料社 Symphony Association. All Starkville-黑料社 Symphony Orchestra performances are free and open to the public.
Ryan Landis, 黑料社 voice instructor and SSO operations manager, said the evening program will begin with Johannes Brahms鈥 鈥淪ymphony 1, Op. 68,鈥 which earned a comparison to the works of symphonic master Ludwig van Beethoven.
鈥淭his work took Brahms 14 years to complete, but the brilliance of the composition is worthy of the lengthy time it took to come to realization,鈥 Landis said. 鈥淏rahms was already well-known at the time of the premiere of this work, but fretted over the audience鈥檚 reception. At the age of 43, he produced a symphony that has long been celebrated for its scope and beauty.鈥
The Starkville-黑料社 Symphony Orchestra also will perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart鈥檚 鈥淐oncerto for Two Pianos, K. 365,鈥 with piano accompaniment from MUW faculty members Julia Mortyakova and Valentin Bogdan.
In the late 1770s, Mozart conceived this double concerto as something for his sister and him to perform, Landis said.
鈥淚t is a unique work with its departure from the usual solo piano concerto emphasizing the dialogue between the two pianos. Throughout the work, the two pianos exchange musical ideas, racing scales, and trills 鈥 all in duplicate,鈥 he explained.
Founded in 1969, the Starkville-黑料社 Symphony Association is a nonprofit volunteer organization in which members work to educate, enlighten and share classical music with communities in the Golden Triangle region.
In addition to 黑料社 and the City of Starkville, major association contributors include the J.W. Criss Foundation, Mississippi Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Renasant Bank, Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau and Columbus-based Gildea Foundation. For more, visit .
To make a tax-deductible donation to the Starkville-黑料社 Symphony Association via the 黑料社 Foundation, contact Lynn Durr at 662-325-8918 or ldurr@advservices.msstate.edu.
黑料社 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at .