Orchestra Event a Big Hit

Last Sunday´s Orchestra event at the American College was a big success, thanks to all that attended.
Here is the program that was performed.
St Paul’s Suite --Holst
was written by the English composer Gustav Holst in 1912, but due to revisions wasn’t published until 1922. It is named after the St Paul’s Girls’ School in the United Kingdom, where Holst was Director of Music from 1905 to 1934. It was written in gratitude to the school which had built a soundproof studio for him. Originally written for strings, Holst added wind parts for his students at St. Paul’s to allow more students to participate. Tonight’s edition has been re-written by John Robertson (one of our clarinet players and a composer from Toronto, Canada) to suit the instrumentation of our orchestra. The suite has four movements:
I. Jig:
II. Ostinato:
III. Intermezzo:
IV. Finale (The Dargason):

Irish Tune--Percy Aldridge Grainger
Percy Grainger was born in Australia in 1882. He spent his early years there before moving to England for most of his young adult life. In 1914 Grainger moved to the USA where continued spent most of the rest of his life. Grainger was a concert pianist as well as composer. Many of his compositions used new 20th century forms such as beetles music, chance music and unplayable music. He was one of the first composers to use tone clusters in his compositions.
Tonight’s selection is from a collection of British Folk Tunes that Grainger composed. It is based on a well-known Irish Tune which many of you will recognize. His beautiful orchestration reflects his many musical influences while retaining the essence of English folk music.

Petite Symphony---Gounod
Gounod was born in Paris, the son of a pianist mother and an artist father. His mother was his first piano teacher. Under her tutelage, Gounod first showed his musical talents.
His Petite Symphony was originally written in 1885 for flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, and 2 bassoons. This evenings performance of the Finale from this work, has been transcribed to suit our instrumentation.

Fugue in E Minor--Oliveros
You are about to hear the world premiere of the Fugue in E Minor by Vallarta Composer José Felix Oliveros. Sr. Oliveros is the brother of Reyes Oliveros who is one of the violinists in tonight’s quartet.

JOSE FELIX OLIVEROS MARTINEZ-
Organista y Pianista.
Nació en Puerto Vallarta Jalisco el 21 de noviembre de 1985, el decimo de once hermanos inicio en la música a los 12 años participando en el mariachi que había formado su padre. Al concluir el bachillerato e influenciado por su hermano mayor, decide partir a la capital, Guadalajara Jal. a continuar con sus estudios musicales en la Escuela Superior de Música Sacra donde egresa como Lic. en Canto Gregoriano con el Prof. Domingo Lobato y aconsejado por su Prof. De contrapunto Manuel Cerda decide ingresar a la Universidad de Guadalajara donde actualmente cursa el 4to semestre de la Licenciatura en Composición. Es recién ganador de la beca “Gabriel Ruiz”.

Concerto in D Minor--Bach
This Concerto for 2 Violins, Strings and Continuo in D Minor, also known as the Double Violin Concerto, is perhaps one of the most famous works by J. S. Bach and considered among the best examples of the work of the late Baroque period. Bach wrote it between 1730 and 1731 when he was the cantor at Thomasschule in Leipzig, Germany. In addition to the two soloists, the concerto is scored for strings and basso continuo.
The concerto consists of three movements:
Vivace
Largo ma non tanto
Allegro
Tonight’s Soloists are Leslie Knight and Carol Kirkman.

Carol Kirkman has been a music educator over 35 years. She played with the Central Oregon Symphony for 25 years as well as the Dove String Quartet. She retired from teaching orchestra in Bend, Oregon last year and has been enjoying seeing her two granddaughters, substitute teaching and being with her husband of 32 years. She now lives in southwest Washington and plays with Clark College orchestra and the Oregon Symphonietta. Carol says that she is happy to be here, enjoying the Mexican sun and playing music!

Leslie Knight was raised in Portland, Oregon and attended Willamette University where she earned a Bachelor of Music in viola performance. She and her husband, Jim, moved to Central Oregon in 1979. Since then Leslie has performed with the Central Oregon Symphony almost every year with a brief hiatus when son Wyatt was born. She has been the violist in the Dove String quartet since it’s beginning.
Summer of 42--Michel Legrand
This beautiful melody is the music written for the 1971 movie Summer of ‘42 which is a 1971 American coming of age drama film based on the memoirs of screenwriter Herman Raucher. It tells the story of Raucher as a boy, in his early teens on his 1942 summer vacation on Nantucket Island, off the coast of New England, who embarked on a one-sided romance with a woman, Dorothy, whose husband had gone off to fight in World War II.