The South Bend Symphony Orchestra will embrace a second British musical invasion by celebrating the works of Gerald Finzi, William Walton and other noteworthy British composers Sunday, January 10 at 2:30 p.m. at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.
The matinee will open with a rousing rendition of Fantasia on Greensleeves, a 1934 melody composed by Vaughan Williams, rich with soothing sounds and upbeat folk undertones. The title of the composition originally led many music historians to believe this piece was deeply rooted within the classic song Greensleeves, however, the jaunty melody was truly inspired by Lovely Joan, a popular British folk tune.
A jazzy performance of William Walton’s Facade, Suite No. 2 will close the performance. Facade, Suite No. 2 is a single segment of a much larger composition designed to accompany the works of poet – and fellow Brit – Edith Sitwell, Walton’s mentor. Conductor John Barbirolli and the famed New York Philharmonic debuted the second Suite in 1938, 12 years after the first Suite’s premiere in 1926, a performance which Walton himself conducted.
Talented SBSO principal clarinetist Trevor O’Riordan will take center stage as he artfully maneuvers the complex solo portion of Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto. O’Riordan, an alumnus of the esteemed Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, trained under some of the most highly respected clarinetist in the nation, including Jon Manasse, Kenneth Grant and Raphael Sanders, among others. In 2003, O’Riordan won the prestigious International Clarinet Association’s Orchestra Audition Competition.
Tickets start at $35 and are on sale at The Morris Box Office, by phone at 800.537.6415 or online at www.MorrisCenter.org. The Morris Box Office is open Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets also can be purchased at Hammes Bookstore/Eddy Street Commons, O’Brien Recreation Center and TG Music in Goshen. Tickets for full-time students are always $8 with photo ID.