By Madelyn Braho · Staff Writer
The Grove City College band and orchestra will be performing their first-ever joint concert on Oct. 3.
The orchestra, led by Dr. Jeffrey Tedford, will be performing three pieces: Copland’s “An Outdoor Overture,” Bizet’s “Carmen Suite No. 1” and Shostakovich’s “String Symphony No. 8.”
The band, led by Dr. Andrew Erb, is preparing four pieces: Pierre Leemans’ “March of the Belgian Paratroopers,” “American Elegy” by Frank Ticheli, Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture” and “Cathedral Mountain” by Rossano Galante.
Many of these are part of a standard repertoire, such as the piece from Bizet’s “Carmen,” an opera which may be familiar to some students due to portions of it being used in popular internet memes.
“An Outdoor Overture “was composed by Aaron Copland, who typified American style orchestral music, in 1938 for a New York City performing arts school.
Other pieces on the program are newer or less common. Some, like “American Elegy,” have interesting histories behind them. Frank Ticheli composed the piece after the Columbine shooting, describing the work as “…a tribute to (the victims’) great strength and courage in the face of a terrible tragedy.”
“Cathedral Mountain” was inspired by the mountain of the same name in Texas. It was composed by Rossano Galante, who orchestrated films such as “Logan” (2017) and the “Fear Street” trilogy.
Picking music for the first performance of the year comes with unique challenges. “The reality of picking repertoire is that we have to find something we can learn quickly that is still challenging technically but is still fun to play and enjoyable for the audience,” Tedford said.
Pieces are selected over the summer before the faculty know anything about the freshmen they will be working with. Part of being an academic program includes choosing pieces that give the students a chance to progress in only seven or eight rehearsals, according to Tedford.
But the concert is for more than just the musicians: It’s for the campus community. People from the Grove City area regularly attend as well.
“It’s an opportunity for folks that love music to hear quality performance right on campus. They don’t have to go to Pittsburgh or Cleveland to hear a really good concert,” Erb said.
The concert brings in people from outside the college and from all across campus as well, as majors from engineering to exercise science are represented in the band and orchestra.
“As part of a liberal arts college, band and orchestra are representative of the whole. Between the two ensembles we probably have 40 to 45 different degree programs represented,” Tedford said.
Later in the year there will be other performances, including the annual Christmas shows. The band also has a notable opportunity coming up in the spring: “We have a huge concert in Pittsburgh in March that we’re doing where I can use the Shostakovich,” Erb announced.
The concert next weekend is going to be an opportunity to hear performances by members of the student body and an opening to the rest of the school performance season for the college’s Department of Music.
The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3 in Ketler Auditorium.
