Due to the current pandemic situation, the Baylor University Campus Orchestra’s first concert of the 2020-2021 academic year will be presented without an in-person audience. However, viewers at home will be able to enjoy the performance by going to the School of Music website for an online livestreaming opportunity. This concert will take place on Monday, October 19, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The Campus Orchestra, conducted by Associate Professor of Music Education Michael Alexander, is comprised of sixty-three talented string players, whose majors range across virtually every discipline that the university offers. The concert is entitled “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Moo.”
Opening the program will be German master Johann Sebastian Bach’s Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major, BWV 553. Taken from Bach’s Eight Organ Preludes and Fugues, it will be played in a string transcription by violinist Isadore Russ.
Next, the Campus Orchestra will play Ashokan Farewell, which is part of Jay Ungar’s soundtrack to the Ken Burns PBS documentary series, “The Civil War.” It has been arranged for string orchestra by Calvin Custer.
Also to be heard is the first movement, “Marcato,” from Canadian composer Jim McGrath’s Suite for Strings, written for the Montreal Chamber Orchestra in 2005.
Argentinian tango composer Ástor Piazzolla’s Oblivion will be performed in an arrangement by Robert Longfield.
The program will close with the famous “Hoedown” portion of Aaron Copland’s 1942 ballet, Rodeo.
This live concert by the Baylor University Campus Orchestra will be streamed from the stage of Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building. To join the virtual audience, simply visit the School of Music website by clicking here.