LaGrange Symphony Orchestra
News Release
For Immediate Distribution

Symphony To Feature Lee Johnson Composition in “Music: The Invisible Art”

Prepared by LSO Staff

     The LaGrange Symphony Orchestra continues its 2008-2009 concert series, “Classical Sounds from Near and Far,” with “Music: The Invisible Art” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 18, in Callaway Auditorium.
     This concert will present a kaleidoscope of music from around the world. Featured will be the colorful voice of contemporary American composer and LaGrange’s own Lee Johnson, followed by the flowing voice of a traditional Korean folk song and the majestic German voice of Richard Wagner.
     Each part of this program celebrates the unique role of music in culture. The concert will open with the second performance of Johnson’s “The Spheres 3.6.9” Symphony No. 8, a work that Johnson has described as “a symphony about the world of music.” Included in this performance will be violin soloist Sergiu Schwartz, soprano Sewell Griffith, tenor Ed Biggs, the Columbus State University Chamber Singers, directed by Constantina Tsolainou, and the LaGrange College Chamber Choir, directed by Debbie Ogle.
     Also on the program will be “Variations on a Korean Folk Song,” which features music based on the ancient Korean folk song “Arirang.” This music is said to bind together culturally the peoples of North and South Korea. The concert will conclude with the Preludes to Act III and Act I of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, an opera that celebrates the wonders of music.
     This event is sponsored in part by a generous donation from Gay & Joseph, CPA P.C. in honor of Lee Johnson.
     In the spirit of the holiday season, concertgoers are asked to bring non-perishable food to support the fourth annual LaGrange Symphony Orchestra food drive benefiting the LaGrange Interfaith Food Closet. Food will be collected in the Callaway Auditorium lobby prior to the performance.
     Immediately following this concert there will be a free reception at the LaGrange Art Museum – Cochran Gallery, located at 4 East Lafayette Square in downtown LaGrange. All concertgoers are invited.
     Tickets may be purchased in advance from the symphony office by calling 706.882.0662 prior to the day of the concert. Tickets will also be sold at the Callaway Auditorium box office beginning at 7:00 p.m. the night of the concert. Doors will open at 7:00 p.m. and concertgoers are encouraged to arrive early.
     Adult tickets are $25 for Mezzanine seating and $15 for seats in the Orchestra and Gallery. Tickets for students sixth grade and older are $5. Children fifth grade and younger are admitted free with an adult.
     For tickets or more information, please contact the LSO office at 706.882.0662 or e-mail info@lagrangesymphony.org, or visit us online at www.lagrangesymphony.org.

*****

LaGrange Symphony Orchestra
News Release
For Immediate Distribution

Prepared by LSO Staff

The Lafayette Youth Orchestra and Lafayette Youth Orchestra String Ensemble will take to the Callaway Auditorium stage on Monday, October 27 at 7:00 p.m. for their Fall Concert.

The concert marks the first performance for the LYO group under the baton of the youth orchestra’s new Music Director and Conductor, Lee Johnson. The String Ensemble is once again led by Director Callie Hammond.

Johnson, the Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Music at LaGrange College and an internationally acclaimed composer, joined the Lafayette Youth Orchestra in 2008 as Music Director and Conductor.

Mrs. Hammond is the assistant concertmaster of the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra, and also performs with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

 Program selections will include “Autumn” from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons along with works from Richard Wagner and Johann Strauss, Sr.

 Tickets are $5 for adults, $2 for students sixth grade and older. Children fifth grade and younger are admitted free with an adult .

For tickets or more information, please contact the LSO office at 706.882.0662 or e-mail info@lagrangesymphony.org, or visit us online at www.lagrangesymphony.org.

 The Lafayette Youth Orchestra is an educational outreach program of the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra.

 The LSO achieves its mission of enriching our community through music by providing performance opportunities for young musicians.

*****

(l-r) LSO President Scott Smith presents proclamations to Emeritus Board Members Ruth West and Ken McGreevy

Sergiu Schwartz performs Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64

Sumptuous Season Opener for the LaGrange Symphony    

A review by Rachaele LaManna Hurd

On Tuesday, October 7th, the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra opened its 2008-2009 concert series Classical Sounds from Near and Far with a glimpse of the world through the compositional eyes of Felix Mendelssohn. After the playing of the national anthem, the concert began in earnest with the crashing waves of The Hebrides Overture in tumbling spirals tossed back and forth between the violins and cellos. Hebrides depicts Mendelssohn’s travels to Scotland and the impressions of solitude amidst great natural beauty that the “lonely isle” made upon him. Within the first few bars of the overture the audience is thrust into a frantic storm at sea. The pounding of the timpani was especially rich and stirring as the warm tones of the violas and cellos assuaged the chilling melody that was passed on to the wind section. Such complexity was a delight to both the eye and ear as conductor Patricio Cobos visibly propelled the piece to its finale with dizzying yet accurate momentum.

The second selection, Violin Concerto in E minor, kept Mendelssohn’s travels a little closer to home in Leipzig, Germany. Here the composer’s collaboration with his dear friend, violinist Ferdinand David, led to a beloved treatment of the concerto with insight into what the full breadth of a violinist’s abilities should be. Featured soloist Sergiu Schwartz, a world renowned violinist and professor at Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music, gave an utterly exciting performance. He proved himself a master in the plaintive solo opening to the piece but then impressed further as the clarity of his tone firmly stood its ground amidst the fullness of the orchestra. Schwartz conquered the Allegro movement with great confidence as Cobos allowed just the right amount of freedom in his conducting to showcase Schwartz’s expressivity to its greatest advantage. The dynamic between conductor, orchestra and soloist was excellent. Schwartz flew through bravura passages with a flourish yet maintained a matter of fact manner that was both charming and tastefully restrained. When urged by the audience to do an encore, both soloist and orchestra went back to the final allegro and performed at an almost impossibly brisk tempo. The wind section especially showed tremendous talent in supporting this exuberant feat.

Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 in A Major closed out the evening’s travels in the Italian countryside. The allegro and andante movements were competent. The orchestra certainly channeled Rossini during the heralding horn fifths of the moderato movement and the flutes positively sparkled with trills and curving phrases in this and the presto Saltarello portion. The strings played a magnificent role in the lush orchestration of the final section as their bows danced the tarantella. Bravi tutti!

Mark your calendars for Music: The Invisible Art on November 18th. As the first concert of the season indicates, the next installment is not to be missed!

Rachaele LaManna Hurd graduated summa cum laude from LaGrange College with a Bachelor of Music degree in 2006. She worked for two years in the offices of The Atlanta Opera and now lives in LaGrange with her husband, Johnny Hurd, and their six-month-old son, Jack.

*****

Lee Johnson assumes baton
at helm of Lafayette Youth Orchestra 

Lee Johnson

     Lee Johnson, Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Music at LaGrange College and internationally acclaimed composer, has joined the Lafayette Youth Orchestra, a musical outreach of the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra, as Music Director and Conductor.  

    Johnson has composed a large body of works that include nine innovative symphonies, two nontraditional operas, concertos, musicals, cantatas, chamber music, vocal and choral works, electroacoustic music, and he is a recognized leader in the exciting genre of Symphonic Film.

     His highly successful Dead Symphony No. 6 was premiered on August 1, 2008 by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to rave reviews and enjoyed substantial media coverage that included Good Morning America, NPR’s Weekend Edition, The Washington Post and the Washington Times, the Associated Press, Reuter’s News Agency, along with dozens of radio, magazine, podcast, and newspaper interviews.

     Johnson has conducted and produced numerous recording sessions with world renowned orchestras at the famed Abbey Road Studios in London, Mosfilm Studios in Moscow, and other leading recording studios. His conducting credits include recordings with The London Symphony Orchestra, The Russian National Orchestra, The London Session Orchestra, The Taliesin Orchestra, and many others.

     Lee Johnson began teaching at LaGrange College in 1989 and is the developer of the college’s Creative Music Technologies degree program.

*****

LaGrange Symphony Orchestra
News Release
For Immediate Distribution

Symphony to Launch New Season New Season with All Mendelssohn Program Prepared by LSO Staff

     The LaGrange Symphony Orchestra opens its 2008-2009 concert series, “Classical Sounds from Near and Far,” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 7, in Callaway Auditorium. 

     The program for this All Mendelssohn concert includes Hebrides Overture in B minor, Violin Concerto in E minor, and Symphony No. 4 in A Major. Sergiu Schwartz, professor of violin holding The William B. and Sue Marie Turner Distinguished Chair in Violin at the Schwob School of Music, Columbus State University, will be featured as violin soloist for this performance.

     Sergiu Schwartz's international concert appearances have taken him to major music centers around the globe as a soloist with orchestras, in recitals and in chamber music concerts. “Following in the footsteps of his fellow countrymen Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, he is a product of the best of European romantic interpretative style and 20th-Century American technical acuity,” states New York's Newsday, while Le Soleil (Canada) notes that “he stands out as one of the best violinists of his generation.”

     Immediately following this concert there will be a free reception at the LaGrange Art Museum, located at 112 Lafayette Square in downtown LaGrange. All concertgoers are invited. Tickets may be purchased in advance from the symphony office by calling 706.882.0662 prior to the day of the concert. Tickets will also be sold at the Callaway Auditorium box office beginning at 7:00 p.m. the night of the concert. Doors will open at 7:00 p.m. and concertgoers are encouraged to arrive early.

     Adult tickets are $25 for Mezzanine seating and $15 for seats in the Orchestra and Gallery. Tickets for students sixth grade and older are $5. Children fifth grade and younger are admitted free with an adult.

     Season tickets are also available now for $125.00 and $75.00. If you haven't already purchased your season tickets for the 2008-2009 season, please consider doing so now and enjoy the convenience of reserving the seats of your choice for all five of our upcoming Subscription Series concerts in a single transaction.

     For tickets or more information, please contact the LSO office at 706.882.0662 or e-mail info@lagrangesymphony.org, or visit us online at www.lagrangesymphony.org.

LSO Board convenes for annual meeting

July 9, 2008  

 The LaGrange Symphony Orchestra celebrated another successful season recently as the LSO Board of Directors held their annual meeting at LaGrange College. Several milestones were marked during the evening including a change in leadership, induction of new board members and special honors for retiring board members. Outgoing President, Scott Landa, passed the gavel to new President, Dr. Scott Smith. Landa served as President for two years and led the LSO to unprecedented heights. Smith, a long-time LSO board member, takes the helm as the symphony prepares for its 2008-09 season, “Classical Sounds from Near and Far.” Joining the board are three local residents, all with a demonstrated commitment to arts and education. Ashley Hawkins, music educator from LaGrange, Dr. Lorraine Jackson, principal of Berta Weathersbee Elementary School and Dr. William Yin, associate professor of mathematics at LaGrange College, are all active in the local arts community and bring exceptional talents to the LSO board. Ken McGreevy, Dr. Walter Murphy and Ruth West were honored for their many years of service to the LSO. McGreevy served as President of the organization from 2000 to 2002, Murphy helped found the symphony in 1989 while he was President of LaGrange College and Mrs. West has served as the organization’s lone historian during the past 18 years. Each of these retiring board members was honored with the Emeritus designation for their commitment to the success of the organization. The LaGrange Symphony Orchestra enriches the community through music. For more information visit http://www.lagrangesymphony.org  or contact the LSO office at 706.882.0662 or info@lagrangesymphony.org. 
    

Archives