Two Clinton High School musicians, chosen from Clinton Symphony Orchestra’s annual Young Artist Auditions, will appear as soloists with the orchestra on Saturday, February 24, 2018. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m., in the Morrison High School Auditorium, 643 Genesee Avenue, Morrison, IL.
Tickets are $15 for adults; all students are admitted free of charge. Tickets are available at the door of the concert. Advance tickets are available at Tegeler Music in Clinton, IA, Fitzgerald Pharmacy in Morrison, and Grummert’s Hardware in Sterling, IL.
Sophomore Flutist Grace Rowland will perform with the orchestra “Il Pastore Svizzero” (The Swiss Shepherd), by Pietro Morlacchi.
Senior William Hicks will perform “Concert Piece for Bassoon and Strings,” by American composer Burrill Phillips. Hicks was chosen for the Iowa All-State Band for the past two years.
The Young Artist Auditions are held in January and are open to all area high school musicians. The Symphony holds auditions to recognize and honor the many music educators in the area and the student talent they encourage.
The orchestra will open with the overture to Mozart’s last opera, “The Magic Flute.” Although composed in the last year of his short life, it is an excited, forward-looking declaration of a young genius in his prime.
Following the two solo performance and intermission, the orchestra will return with Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony. Of his nine symphonies, only the sixth has a program of descriptive scenes, annotated by the composer himself. It is often referred to as the “Pastoral” Symphony, because of its descriptive scenes from the countryside:
1. awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the countryside
2. scene by the brook.
3. merry gathering of country folk.
4. thunder storm.
5. shepherd’s song; cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm.
“A live performance is the only way to hear it in full-spectrum sound,” the Symphony’s Executive Director Robert Whipple said. “Live music is always the most engaging.”
The concert, under the direction of conductor Brian Dollinger, is one of the Symphony’s 64th season.