By Jesse Medina
Adams State College hosted the San Luis Valley Symphony November 7 at the Leon Memorial Hall.
The event featured many of Adams State’s own students as well as including several members of Alamosa’s community. The symphony consisted of violins, the viola, cellos, double bass, the flute, oboe, clarinets, bassoon, trumpet, horn, and percussion.
Leon Memorial Hall was packed with a large crowd. The crowd consisted of various age groups ranging from young children to a fair amount of elderly folks. The tuning of instruments sprinkled the theatre with the peppered sounds of stringed and wind instruments creating a confetti mixture of sound. The atmosphere was exciting as the symphony took the stage.
William Lipke was the conductor for symphony. He greeted the audience and gave kudos to his symphony. He then followed that up with giving the audience a preview of the evening’s playlist.
The symphony began with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Coriolanus Overture, Op. 62. The Coriolanus Overture is a powerful piece which was inspired by Heinrich Josef von Collin’s tragedy about the exiled Roman general Coriolanus. In the play Coriolanus attempts to lead an army against Rome but is persuaded not to by his mother. To reflect the story the piece is done in the key of C minor and displayed dramatic composition with variations in intensity throughout the piece.
The Coriolanus overture was followed by another famous composer’s piece, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Divertimento in D Major, K. 136. Mozart was known for balanced form, classical restraint and elegance and the Divertimento in D Major exhibits these qualities. Mozart creates contrast in the piece using the traditional fast-slow-fast movement format. He begins with an andante of lyric and concludes with presto.
The final piece of the evening was Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suit No. 1. Edvard Hagerup Grieg is considered to be the most important Norwegian composer. He was trained in the tradition of Schumann and Mendelssohn and studied Norwegian folk music. The Peer Gynt Suit No. 1 has four movements. The first is called Morning Mood, which is a light and happy piece that one might recognize from some Bugs Bunny cartoons as the song played when he wakes up in the morning. The next movement is called The Death of Ase. It is predominantly string oriented. It has a slow tempo and poignant harmonies which lent the movement a slower, sadder sounding piece. The third movement is titled Anitra’s Dance and had a very lively tempo that Grieg borrowed from a Polish dance, the Tempo de mazurka, which originated in the province of Mazovia. The evening and the piece was concluded with the Hall of the Mountain King which sent shockwaves with its dramatic use of drums and tempo.
The violin section consisted of Marika Basagoitia, Aric Egana, Brian Garrison, Katherine Griffis, Roberta Morgan, Mikaela Morgan, Aspen Quirico, Sean Rossillon, Tyleen Stults Kim Waller, Alexandra Ziegler. The Viola section consists of Joy Plesner, who is a string instructor at Adams State, and Dr. Matthew Schildt. Alice Price, Chuck Rasmussen and Sue Englert make up the cello section. Dr. Joel Judd played the Double bass. The flutes were played by Andrea Cherne and Elizabeth Howard. The oboe section consisted of Kate Newmeyer and Karen Lemke while the clarinet section was Leslie Kahler and Chelsea Oden. The bassoons were played by Cara Rosingana and Rose Stroback. Trumpets were played by Shane Hagan and Cedric Lindsay. Jessica Garberich was the horn section and Paul Kobe, David Noller, Josh Wohlrabe made up the percussion section.
The event was fun and exciting and recommended for any who enjoy music to any degree.
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