Baylor Symphony Concert Set for April 22

by Richard Veit

The Baylor Symphony Orchestra will present its final concert of the 1998/99 academic year at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 22, in Jones Concert Hall. The orchestra is conducted by Stephen Heyde, director of orchestral activities and Conductor-in-Residence.
Opening the concert will be a performance of Thomas Canning's Fantasia on a Hymn of Justin Morgan. This work, written in 1944, is scored for double string quartet and string orchestra. It is based on the 18th-century hymn "Amanada" by Justin Morgan, one of a group of early American composers who wrote music for the "hymn sings" that were so popular at the time.
American composer Lou Harrison wrote his Piano Concerto in 1985 for pianist Keith Jarrett. The work embraces facets of several Asian musical cultures, as well as Western traditions both past and present. Harrison also calls for special non-equal tuning of the piano, which produces unusual sonorities. The soloist in this concerto will be Brian Marks, lecturer in piano. Marks, who joined the Baylor music faculty in 1991, holds graduate degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. He is an active proponent of contemporary American music.
The Baylor Symphony Orchestra concert will conclude with a performance of the Symphony No. 1 in C minor of Johannes Brahms. This work, completed and first performed in 1876, was a product of more than two decades of musical thought by the great German master. Though not universally acclaimed at its premiere, Brahms's First Symphony has become one of the most often performed compositions in the entire orchestral repertoire.
This concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Baylor School of Music at 710-3991.