Goshen College orchestra and wind ensemble perform final season concert April 16

GOSHEN, Ind. – The Goshen College Orchestra and Wind Ensemble will present their final concert of the season in Sauder Concert Hall, Music Center on April 16 at 8 p.m.

A pre-concert performance by the award-winning Wheaton Warrenville South High School Chamber Orchestra from Wheaton, Ill., will begin at 7:30 p.m. Under the direction of John Fitchuk, their program will include works by Handel and Glazunov. The 46-member high school orchestra will then join forces with the Goshen College Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. John Graulty, for a combined performance of the opening work of the evening: Copland’s “Outdoor Overture.”

“Outdoor Overture” was composed for the orchestra of New York City’s High School of Music and Art in 1938. Copland was initially reluctant to accept the commission from the head of the school’s music department because he was deeply immersed in the orchestration of his ballet “Billy the Kid.” However, when Copland was told that this commission was to be the first in a larger effort to create a body of “American music for American youth,” he couldn’t resist. The overture’s diatonic melodies and simple counterpoint create an atmosphere of youthful optimism. Composer Elliot Carter said, “‘Outdoor Overture’ contains some of Copland’s finest and most personal music. Its opening is as lofty and beautiful as any passage that has been written by a contemporary composer.”

The concert will also include Kurt Weill’s “Little Threepenny Music” for small wind ensemble and Beethoven’s monumental “Symphony #7 in A Major.”

Tickets are $5 for general admission, $3 for students and seniors and free for GC students. They are available at the door and by calling the Welcome Center at (574) 535-7566.

Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” Kaplan’s “Most Interesting Colleges” guide and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit https://www.goshen.edu.

Editors: For more information, contact News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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