FARMINGTON – The UMF Community Orchestra will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 3, in Nordica Auditorium of Merrill Hall. The concert will be conducted by Graybert Beacham and feature piano soloist Steven Pane.
The approximately 40 members of the orchestra include UMF and School Administrative District 9 students, western Maine community members and a few professional musicians. The orchestra has been rehearsing weekly since early January in preparation for this concert.
The concert will open with the “Coriolan Overture” by Ludwig van Beethoven, one of his most frequently performed orchestral works. Next, the orchestra will perform “L’Arlesienne Suite No. 2” by Georges Bizet. This suite is from bits and pieces of music that Bizet wrote as incidental music for Alphonse Daudet’s 1872 play “L’Arlesienne” or “The Girl from Arles.” Bizet’s friend and assistant, Ernest Guiraud, undertook this compilation after his death. In Daudet’s play, the main character Frederi is unable to forget the girl from Arles despite the fact that she is unfaithful to him. The music is full of wonderful orchestral colors and the “Menuetto” movement includes two duets with harp accompaniment, one for flute and oboe, and another for flute and saxophone.
After an intermission, Pane will join the orchestra for two works: Mozart’s “Concert Rondo in D Major” and Franz Liszt’s “Totentanz.” The Mozart “Rondo” was written as a replacement for the final movement of an earlier concerto. Mozart performed this piece himself many times and apparently liked it very much.
“Totentanz,” or “Dance of Death,” by Liszt is a set of six variations on the “Dies Irae” theme. This theme is the ancient melody used in the Roman Catholic Requiem or Mass for the Dead.
Tickets may be purchased at Mickey’s Hallmark on Main Street prior to the concert and also at the door. Tickets are $6 for adults, $5 for adults over age 65, $2 for children 12 and younger, and free for UMF students with ID. For ticket questions, people can contact Bill Paradis at 778-7072.
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