DPU orchestra opens season

Saturday, September 18, 2010

GREENCASTLE -- The DePauw University Orchestra will perform its first concert of the academic year on Sept. 26 as part of Family Weekend.

The program, which begins at 3 p.m., will feature music by two American composers, Samuel Barber and David Ott, the latter of whom served on the DePauw faculty from 1982-1996.

The concert will take place in Kresge Auditorium of the Green Center for the Performing Arts and is free and open to all.

"Ott's recent opera, 'The Widow's Lantern,' features an exciting overture and powerful imagery in incidental music for its hurricane scene," conductor of the University Orchestra Orcenith Smith said.

"While Dr. Ott will not be at our performance, he was able to oversee a rehearsal of the music when he was on campus this week giving a master class. It is a pleasure to provide our students with the opportunity to work on his music of great variety, and for our audience to hear it."

Also featured on the program is Barber's ballet music from Medea, "Meditation and Dance of Vengeance," and Debussy's famous tone painting, "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun."

According to Smith, "these works are excellent musical counterparts to each other, especially after Dr. Ott's music sets the theatrical environment. We know our audience will enjoy this opening to our concert season."

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