DePauw Band and Orchestra to perform Beckel's music Nov. 23,24

Critically acclaimed composer James Beckel (center) confers with conductor Craig Pare (left) and horn soloist Robert Danforth following rehearsal of "The Glass Bead Game," to be performed by DePauw University Band on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 3 p.m. The University Orchestra will perform Beckel's new trombone concerto, with the composer as soloist, on Monday, Nov. 24 at 7:30 p.m. Both concerts take place in Kresge Auditorium.

Members of the community have two opportunities to hear the music of DePauw School of Music professor of trombone James A. Beckel Jr. when the University Band and the University Orchestra will feature music composed by Beckel in back-to-back concerts Sunday and Monday at the Green Center's Kresge Auditorium.

The two performances will be given on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 3 p.m. and on Monday, Nov. 24 at 7:30 p.m.

This weekend, when Dr. Craig Paré leads the University Band in the ensemble's last concert of the fall semester, Robert Danforth, DePauw music professor and principal horn of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, will be the featured soloist on Beckel's Pulitzer Prize--nominated concerto for horn," The Glass Bead Game."

The critically acclaimed work, now considered a part of the standard horn repertoire, is loosely based on the Herman Hesse novel of the same name. Samuel Barber's "Commando March," Barber's first piece for band, is also on Sunday's program, along with Ron Nelson's "Lauds" and Frank Ticheli's arrangement of "Amazing Grace."

Spectators may bring a non-perishable food item Sunday afternoon to donate to the Putnam County Emergency Food Pantry and redeem it for a free concert ticket.

The following night, Beckel, also principal trombone with the ISO, will take the stage to perform his new trombone concerto alongside the University Orchestra under the baton of Orcenith Smith.

The concert will open with a performance of the overture to Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, giving audience members a sneak peek at DePauw Opera's upcoming spring production. DePauw viola professor Dr. Nicole Brockmann will then join the ensemble as soloist in John Woolrich's Ulysses Awakes, a contemporary work inspired by Monteverdi's opera Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria.

The orchestra will also perform Haydn's "Symphony No. 95," one of the composer's infamous twelve "London" symphonies.

Beckel, a graduate of the Indiana University School of Music, won the position of principal trombonist with the Indianapolis Symphony in 1969, when he was only 20 years old. A member of both the DePauw and the University of Indianapolis music faculty, he has been named an Individual Arts Fellow through the Indiana Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts and was one of 50 composers chosen nationwide to be part of the Continental Harmony Project.

General admission for each concert is $3. Tickets for all students, seniors and children are free thanks to season sponsors, Judson and Joyce Green.

To obtain tickets, visit www.depauw.edu/music/tickets, stop by or call the GCPA box office at 658-4827.