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October 22, 2009

Friends of Music Concert Series

From Edinboro University Office of Public Relations

 

EDINBORO, Pa. – Edinboro University’s Friends of Music will present an evening of chamber orchestra music with members of the Erie Philharmonic on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at Louis C. Cole Auditorium-Memorial Hall.

The 7:30 p.m. concert featuring 14 musicians, including two Edinboro University Music Department faculty members, will be conducted by Daniel Meyer, the Erie Philharmonic Orchestra’s music director.

“In bringing the Erie Philharmonic here, we remain very grateful to Dr. William Alexander for his extraordinary commitment and generosity to Edinboro University and our Music Department,” said Edinboro President Jeremy D. Brown. “These concerts provide our students and the general public with the opportunity to hear and appreciate music by the world’s most outstanding composers of classical music.”

In previous years there was a minimal cost attached to attending Erie Philharmonic concerts at Edinboro University.  But because of the current state of the economy, such concerts during the 2009-10 academic year will be free, thanks to Alexander’s continued generosity.

“We thank Bill Alexander for his gift of music that is appreciated by so many,” Brown said.

It was Alexander, Edinboro’s former Music Department chair, who first established a relationship between the University and the Erie Philharmonic some four decades ago. Now retired from teaching, Alexander continues his music composition, including solo and chamber works for friends, both professional and amateur.  He has also written several works for orchestra which were premiered by the Erie Philharmonic.

For establishing a permanent endowment for the Edinboro University Friends of Music Concert Series, now in its third year, and for his continued support of the Music Department, Alexander was honored last year when the University’s new music building was dedicated as the “Dr. William P. Alexander Music Center.”

Although there will be no soloists in the Oct. 28 concert, two of Edinboro University’s music faculty members, flutist LeAnn Wistrom and pianist Kristine Denton, will perform with members of the orchestra.

The evening’s program features Shaker Loops (seven strings) by John Adams, Suite from Whippoorwill Road by William P. Alexander, andAppalachian Spring by Aaron Copland.

John Adams, one of the most performed composers of our time, has said thatShaker Loops began as a string quartet with the title Wavemaker.  But, in his own words, he said Wavemaker “crashed at its first performance. The need for a larger, thicker ensemble and for a more flexible, less theory-bound means of composing became very apparent. With the original Wavemaker scraped, I worked to pick up the pieces and start over.”  The result is his acclaimed work, Shaker Loops.

Alexander, on the other hand, selected the title Whippoorwill Road because several poems in a collected work of the same name, authored by Brett Rutherford, an Edinboro student of the late 1960s, are reflected in the Alexander’s composition.

The well-known Appalachian Spring was the result of a $500 Coolidge Commission Copland received to write ballet music for Martha Graham and her dance company in 1943-44. While composing the piece, Copland used the working title Ballet for Martha, which later became its subtitle.

Recognized as one of the top young conductors of his generation, the Erie Philharmonic’s Daniel Meyer will conduct all three chamber orchestra pieces.

The Erie Philharmonic Orchestra will next perform at Cole Auditorium on March 24, 2010. The concert will feature Four Temperaments by William P. Alexander, Percussion Ensemble by Gamelan, and La Mer by Claude Debussy.

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