Keene State Orchestra Plays Orchestral Favorites
KEENE, N.H. 11/13/03 - Orchestral favorites such as Dvorak’s “New World” symphony will be featured in the Keene State College Chamber Orchestra’s concert on Sunday, Nov. 23. KSC artist-in-residence Don Baldini will conduct the 30-member orchestra during the matinee concert, which begins at 3 p.m. in the Main Theatre of the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond. Tickets are $7 for the general public and $5 for KSC students, senior citizens, and youth age 17 or younger. Call the box office at 603-358-2168.
The “Orchestral Favorites” program will include Tchaikovsky’s Pezzo Capriccioso for Cello and Orchestra featuring cellist Sarah Cohen from Israel. Cohen is studying this year at Keene State through a cooperative program of KSC’s Department of Music and the Playing for Peace Program sponsored by Apple Hill Center of Chamber Music in Nelson. Cohen, 25, has performed in music festivals across Europe. Nouran Meho, the other Playing for Peace student, will play viola with the orchestra during the concert. She is 24 and from Jordan.
The overture to Rienzi, an opera by Richard Wagner, will open the orchestra’s program, which will conclude with Antonin Dvorak’s most popular work, Symphony No 5, Opus 95 in E minor, “From the New World,” written by the Czech composer in 1892 during a one-year stay in the United States.
The KSC Chamber Orchestra is composed primarily of KSC students and includes some community members. Baldini also conducts the KSC Jazz Ensemble, which will present the big band themes of Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Les Brown, Glenn Miller, and others on Wednesday, Dec. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the Redfern Arts Center.
Baldini came to Keene State after a professional career as a studio musician in Los Angeles. He appeared for 13 years with the Tonight Show Orchestra and toured with Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, and the Harry James and Toshiko-Akyoshi/Lew Tabakin bands. He currently performs with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Dartmouth Symphony, Opera North, the Keene Chamber Orchestra, and several local chamber music and jazz groups.
