Butler Symphony begins 'The Dream of America'
The Butler County Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Elisabeth Heath-Charles, opens its 61st season — themed "The Dream of America" — with a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium at Butler Intermediate High School, 551 Fairground Hill Road.
The theme for this concert is "Coming to America" and features a new multimedia composition "Ellis Island: The Dream of America" by composer Peter Boyer.
With overhead slides of historic Ellis Island projected during the music, and with seven actors from the Butler Little Theatre reciting the emotional words of actual people entering America through Ellis Island, music brings to life the experience of fulfilling the dream of coming to America. The actors portray immigrants from Poland, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Belgium, Ireland and Russia. They arrived between the years of 1910 and 1940 and were ages 4 to 30.
The concert begins with the folk music of Germany, Austria and Italy. Concert goers are encouraged to wear an article of clothing, lapel pin or some other item representative of their own ancestor immigrants.
The Butler County Genealogical Society will have a lobby display of the organization's activities and stories of some Butler County immigrants who came through Ellis Island.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students for reserved seats and are available at the Symphony Association office, 259 S. Main St. At the door, adult tickets are $18.
For more information, call 724-283-1402 or visit the Web site, www.butlersymphony.org.
Other concerts in the 61st season will be:
n "Amber Waves," Nov. 7.
The orchestra will open the concert with Morton Gould's poignant rendition of "America the Beautiful" and continue with the works of the immigrant composers Victor Herbert, Percy Grainger and Igor Stravinsky.
BCSO Concertmaster Galina Istomin, who immigrated from Russia in 1991, and her daughter Katerina, a recent Juilliard graduate, will be soloists in this program and will team up to perform Mozart's "Sinfonia Concertante" for violin and viola.
n "Holidays with Marianne," Dec. 5.
The traditional program of seasonal music will feature internationally acclaimed opera singer Marianne Cornetti, a native of Cabot. She performs in many countries from which our ancestors came. The orchestra will celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah music including the popular audience singalong.
n "Shout, America," Feb. 13.
The orchestra will celebrate the African-American contributions of jazz and gospel. Featured will be music by Elmer Bernstein from the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird" and the joyful sounds of the Pittsburgh Gospel Choir, a multiage, multiethnic musical ensemble that performs America's rich gospel music.
n
"Modern America," March 13.This family pops concert will begin with Pennsylvania folk songs and then work its way from the music of past generations and finally down to the music of American youth.Music by Duke Ellington will showcase orchestra members in jazz solos followed by selections from the "Dead Symphony," an orchestral tribute to the Grateful Dead. Music from "High School Musical" and "Hannah Montana" will be presented by the North Star Kids group from Pittsburgh.•
"Hear Us Now," April 24.Focusing on Pennsylvania, the final program of the season will open with "Symphony No, 1" by Pennsylvania born composer Samuel Barber.Four Butler County native composers — Peter Moribito, Jim Pugh, Jim Sanzotti and Chuck Widdersheim — will each contribute one movement to create a new work titled "Butler County Suite."
<B>WHO: </B>Butler County Symphony Orchestra<B>WHAT:</B> "Coming to America" concert<B>WHEN: </B>7:30 p.m. Saturday<B>WHERE: </B>Butler Intermediate High School auditorium, 551 Fairground Hill Road<B>TICKETS: </B>$15 for adults and $5 for students for reserved seats available at the Symphony Association office, 259 S. Main St. At the door, adult tickets are $18.<B>INFORMATION: </B>Call 724-283-1402 or visit the Web site, www.butlersymphony.org.
