Concert Presents Musical Picture of America
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The Bijou Orchestra presents, "An American Sound Portrait" - A Concert Presenting The Musical Picture of America.
Composers will take us from "sea to shining sea" in search of scenery and faces of American life in the second concert of the fifth season of The Bijou Orchestra in Bay City, Michigan.
American Portrait is the second of three concerts in the Thelen Auto Group "Bijou Series at the State."
American Portrait will be given Saturday, October 19 at 8PM and Sunday, October 20 at 2PM at the beautifully restored Mayan State Theatre, 915 Washington.
Leo Najar, Bijou Artistic Director, explained, "The idea for this concert came to me as I was rummaging through old music in our library." Najar came across a copy of 'On the Trail' by Ferdé Grofé, who was pianist and arranger for the Paul Whiteman band in the 1920s and 30s. Najar started thinking of all the great music that had been written that tried to paint a portrait of the country through music.
Najar said, "We all know the traditional and contemporary songs with lyrics that talk about what it means to be an American, but I realized that fewer and fewer concerts are heard today that focus on instrumental music composed to express feelings about the American landscape."
Najar continued, "So I set out to build a program that will illustrate places such as the Grand Canyon, cities such as Leonard Bernstein's New York in West Side Story, and even historic symbols such as the Liberty Bell as depicted by John Philip Sousa. This is a truly a concert that will be enjoyed by audiences of all ages."
"It is my hope that by combining familiar music with some that is less so, we will give our audience a broad sample of how American musicians look at their home and express their feelings to their listeners," said Najar.
Aaron Copland's Quiet City is another featured work on this concert. Originally conceived as incidental music for a play directed by Elia Kazan, Copland created a concert piece from the material. Two solo wind instruments provide a late-night-jazz-flavored dialogue over quiet strings that capture urban loneliness much as Nighthawks, Edward Hopper's famous painting of late night diner patrons.
While most of the music is written by Americans, Antonin Dvorak provides a Czech flavor with the famous melody from the slove movement of his New World Symphony which many Americans know as Goin' Home, Leroy Anderson's The Typewriter features this now antique and vanishing instrument as a surprising solo percussion voice.
All seats for American Portrait are reserved and cost $30, $25 and $20 depending upon location. Student tickets are $10. Tickets may be purchased online at http://www.BijouOrchestra.org - by phone at (989) 892-4200 or in person at the Bay Musical Arts Box Office: 917 Washington Avenue, Bay City, Michigan, 48708. Box-office hours are 1-5PM Tuesday through Friday. Tickets are also available at the door.
The Bijou Orchestra takes its name from the Bijou Theater, one of the earliest Bay City theaters, which later became known as the Bay and eventually the State. The ensemble is composed of thirteen outstanding musicians drawn from Michigan and beyond to perform in this challenging medium in which every player is a soloist.
The orchestra is supported in part by grants from the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Kantzler Foundation, the Russell H. & Maxine E. Smith Foundation, and the Bay Area Community Foundation. Major corporate contributors include the SC Johnson Corporation, Dow Corning, Bay Regional Medical Center, OmniSource and Thelen Auto Group.
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Julie McCallum, Entertainment Editor |
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