The University of Mary Washington Philharmonic Orchestra’s “happy ENDINGS” concert will close this year’s season on Friday, April 25. The concert, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in Dodd Auditorium, will feature classical music with exciting conclusions.
Director Kevin Bartram used last month’s concert with Itzhak Perlman as inspiration for the program.
Seniors Lavar Edmonds, a violinist, and Rebecca Brown, a harpist, will be featured soloists, along with UMW faculty trumpet instructor Jim Ford. Edmonds will perform the “Symphonie Espagnol” by French composer Édouard Lalo, a work that requires both skill and expression. Brown will tackle the difficult “Dances Sacred and Profane for Harp and Orchestra” by the French impressionist Claude Debussy. Ford will perform the exciting “Trumpet Concerto in E Major” by Johann Nepomuk Hummel.
The program also will include “Farandole” by George Bizet, the epic “Symphony No. 5” by Dmitri Shostakovich, and Strauss’ “Champagne Polka.”
“The dancers in our community will enjoy this polka, and our music selections should also appeal to the younger generation as well as our loyal older patrons,” said Bartram. The concert, shorter than many others this season, will have no intermission.
The orchestra, composed of both students and community musicians, receives support from the Friends of the Philharmonic, and generous donations from local businesses which also help to fund music scholarships at UMW.
Tickets to the concert are $10 for general admission or $2 for UMW students and faculty, and are available at the Visitor’s Center and at philharmonic.umw.edu.