NATCHITOCHES – The Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra will present a concert on Saturday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Douglas Bakenhus is music director of the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra. Juan Pablo Paternina Paez is the graduate assistant conductor.
Tickets are $15. Seating is limited to 104. Masks are required and social distancing should be observed. Symphony season ticket subscribers are encouraged to make reservations by calling (318) 357-5792 or emailing Bakenhus at bakenhusd@nsula.edu. Any reservation made and not claimed by 7:20 p.m. the night of the performance will be released. Those wishing to buy tickets at the door are requested to arrive early and be placed on the waiting list. The concert will be livestreamed at https://capa.nsula.edu/livestream/
The 2020-21 concert season is titled “Dedication and Remembrance.” The orchestra is remembering individuals who had a major influence on the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony and the School of Creative and Performing Arts. The concert is dedicated to Professor of Art Emeritus Dr. Bill Bryant who passed away in January.
The first half of the program will include Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” composed in 1942 as part of a series of fanfares by different composers, honoring those involved in the war effort, mostly military personnel. However, Copland wanted to honor and lift up everyone going through those tough times.
“Likewise, this fanfare can lift us up today,” said Bakenhus. “This music is often played at memorial services and remembrances because of its uplifting quality.”
The orchestra will play four folk tunes arranged by retired music faculty member and former symphony conductor Richard Rose, who was a long-time member of the Back Porch Band with Bryant. The tunes are “Mississippi Sawyer,” “Skye Boat Song,” “Danny Boy” and “Hound Dog.”
“I chose the tunes for several reasons,” said Rose. “‘Mississippi Sawyer’ was a tune that Bill enjoyed playing on the dulcimer. It’s fast and happy, and Bill had fun setting a fast moving tempo. Bill was a great dulcimer player and made his own dulcimers.”
‘“Skye Boat Song,’ which we always performed instrumentally, is a beautiful tune that Bill played so well on the recorder with great emotion. The same could be said about ‘Danny Boy.’ There was always a moment of silence as we ended performances of that tune like letting the mood settle before reacting.
Rose said “Hound Dog” was one of the Back Porch Band’s fan favorites.
“Bill would tear into the introduction on the dulcimer to set the tone for the song, and nobody could sing the lyrics like Bill,” said Rose. “The band had great fun performing this tune. Audiences would not let us finish a concert or set without performing ‘Hound Dog.”’
Rose said selecting tunes to learn was always an adventure with Bryant.
“He knew as many folk tunes as any folklore authority would,” said Rose. “Sometimes the tunes were easy to pick up on from Bill playing them. Others I would record and then notate them for the rest of us. Bill never needed printed music to perform.”
Rose is thankful Bryant introduced him to a great volume of folk music.
“It definitely added to my concept of performing in all genres and broadened the horizon of musical possibilities,” said Rose. “I am forever grateful.”
The orchestra will continue with the folk tune theme with Percy Grainger’s “Irish Tune from County Derry” which is a very colorful rendition of “Danny Boy.” They will follow with “English Folk Songs Suite” by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The second half of the program will be lighthearted, with Mozart’s overture to the comic opera “The Abduction from the Seraglio.” Then the delightful and whimsical “Symphony No 82” by Franz Joseph Haydn called “The Bear” so called because the finale sounds like carnival dancing bear music complete with bagpipe drones.
The orchestra will close the concert with the overture to the comic opera “The Barber of Seville” by Rossini. This music is familiar because of its use in popular culture.
