America in Harmony Listening Links

 

Great American music coming your way on Feb. 19.

Here are links to preview the music: 

Star Spangled Banner performed by the Orchestra of Southern Utah 

Rodeo Suite by Copland

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy with the Andrew Sisters

 Blue Tango with dancers

Souvenir d'Amerique on Yankee Doodle, Op. 17 (arr. R. England) 

Rhapsody in Blue 

Adagio for Strings 

The Entertainer, slower piano version 

The Entertainer, orchestra version

R. L. Halversen Young Artist Concert 2025 Listening Preview

Preview the Music for the April 17 concert: 

Easter Overture : Music with score

Showing Symphony Orchestra performance

Concerto in F by Gershwin We will be performing the 3rd movement with Trevyn Karkula, pianist

Itzhak Perlman performs Sarasate Zigeunerweisen  Sophie Wilkes is the soloist.

Bassoon Concerto in F by Weber Kloie Humes is the soloist.

Andante & Rondo Ungarese for Viola by Weber Hannah Bradshaw is the soloist.

Otar Gordeli - Concerto for Flute and Orchestra Leah Kim Keyes is the soloist.

We hope you will join us for the April 15 concert.  Tickets available at myosu.org

Music Education link for Fun

How to Write Blues, Rock and Roll Covers and Being a Conductor. Link:  Carnegie Hall link for creating your own music.

Preview the music for the "Immortal Melodies" Concert on Feb. 20, 2025

Certain melodies conjure the best of a symphony orchestra. The "Immortal Melodies" concert features some of our favorite pieces as well as showcasing two outstanding local musicians. Join the Orchestra of Southern Utah on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Heritage Theater, 105 N. 100 West, in Cedar City. Tickets now available at myosu.org.

The Moldau by Smetana takes a journey along a Czech river complete with a wedding dance as the river goes from the mountains of Bohemia to Prague. This symphonic poem tells a story complete with castles and rapids as the river wends its way to the Elbe. Listening link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6kqu2mk-Kw

Berceuse and Finale from Stravinsky's Firebird Suite conjures the magic of the bird who tells the king about what is really happening in the kingdom.  The famous ballet music is a triumph of good over evil.

Listening Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWvOgda1g2E

Alexander Borodin was a chemist who composed on Sundays. The Polovtsian Dances from the opera Prince Igor include a melody that became famous in the musical Kismet. "Take my hand, I'm a stranger in paradise" was a huge hit in 1953. Listening Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAMIimzqvW4

Pachelbel's Canon is a deceptively simple piece with eight notes repeating under a timeless melody. This arrangement by cellist Pat Pinkston gives the cellists a chance to share the melody. Using the harp for the piano part adds another level of musical magic. Listening Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_esxn9m-CHU

"We are so excited to be joined by some extremely talented instrumentalists for our February concert including Ben Bradshaw on bassoon and David Torres on trumpet. You won’t want to miss this spectacular addition to our season!" said Music Director and Conductor Carylee Zwang.

Dr. Ben Bradshaw has chosen a Concertino for Bassoon. The Finnish composer Bernard Crusell wrote this Concertino for bassoon in 1829 "for his son-in-law Franz Preumayr who was considered Sweden's foremost bassoonists at the time." They lived in Stockholm and this virtuostic piece was premiered in 1829. Bradshaw teaches at both SUU and Utah Tech and has played in numerous ensembles across the country. Listening Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6UH-HrxevY

Kevin McKee wrote Centennial Horizon as a commission from Albany trumpeter Catherine Sheridan. "With two contrasting movements (Aspen Grove and Roaring Gunnison) connected by an interlude (Alpenglow), I have attempted to capture some of the beauty and adventure of what truly is an amazing place: Colorado (the "Centennial State"). Inspired by my late grandmothers love of that state, the first movement is an homage to her," said McKee.  David Torres teaches at SUU where he has developed the Thunderbird Marching Band. He is an active performer with touring musical. Torres served as one of the final trumpet players/conductors for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Listening Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K55aX47d8aM

The Southern Utah String Quartet will provide lobby music by Schubert before the concert.

Concert tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. Go to myosu.org for ticket purchases. No children under six or babies for the evening concerts please, as these concerts are recorded. Recordings are available on the website and selective past performances are posted on the OSUCedarCity YouTube channel.

"We are excited to bring this unforgettable music to you,"  said Harold Shirley, OSU President. "Come and enjoy an evening of great symphony orchestra music with us on Feb. 20."

Full artist bios at: https://osucedarcity.blogspot.com/2025/01/

More Music Exploration Resources

The internet provides many resources for families and teachers for music exploration.  Here are a few: 

Exploring the symphony orchestra with the Carnegie Hall resources on this link: https://orchestramap.carnegiehall.org/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wmi-teachernewsletter-10-09-2024&utm_content=version_A&sourceCode=52049

Here are more music games and resources from Carnegie Hall: games and resources

PBS Music Games for Children  

Inside the Orchestra to Hear the Instruments

Music and the Mind from the Economist Sept. 17, 2022

"Playing an instrument is linked to better cognition"

"Evidence suggests that the rewards go far beyond the elation of performing well in front of others - those who play instruments have often been found to perform better on cognitive tests too."

Studies published in Psychological Science suggest "that the benefits of musical instruments remain for decades."

"Even just two years of music training enhances cognition."

In a study in Scotland that spanned from 1947 to 2017, it was found that "the more years and more hours of practice with an instrument that a person had, the more likely they were to show a positive cognitive change over the course of their life.  The effect was small but it remained significant even when the findings were adjusted to take into account confounding factors like years of education and socioeconomic status."

"The researchers theorise that driving people to regularly use a mix of focused attention, co-ordination, auditory-motor skills and memory results in advantageous cognitive changes. Yet another reward, then, from a love of music." 

 

Rock Gold Volume 2 Preview Listening

It's almost time for Rock Gold Volume 2.  Get your tickets at myosu.org soon.

Full article and soloists at https://osucedarcity.blogspot.com/2024/10/rock-gold-volume-2-coming-soon.html

Below are the listening links to preview the music. 

 Living on a Prayer

Sweet Caroline  

Get Lucky

9 to 5 

Sky Full of Stars  

November Rain

Bohemian Rhapsody

Comfortably Numb  

Thanks to everyone who makes it possible to have live symphony music available for Cedar City.

(Poster design by Rollan Fell.)

Spooky Spectacular and Haunting Resonance Listening Links

Listening Links for the Opening Season Concerts

Evening concert on Oct. 10, 7:30 p.m.

More music for the adults.  Tickets available at myosu.org

Children's Jubilee on Oct. 12 with Musical Spook Alley and activites from 12 noon to 1:50 p.m. and a concert designed for all ages at 2 p.m.  FREE, but you need tickets at myosu.org

(Titles in Blue link to the videos - 

there may be ads so parents should help smaller children skip the ads.)

Wagner "Ride of the Valkyries"

"In the Walküre opera, the Ride of the Valkyries, which takes around eight minutes, begins in the prelude to the third act, building up successive layers of accompaniment until the curtain rises to reveal a mountain peak where four of the eight Valkyrie sisters of Brünnhilde have gathered in preparation for the transportation of fallen heroes to Valhalla. As they are joined by the other four, the familiar tune is carried by the orchestra, while, above it, the Valkyries greet each other and sing their battle-cry." (Wikipedia)

Danse Macabre

"The Danse Macabre also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory from the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death." The first violin solo uses a different tuning to conjure the spooky theme." (Wikipedia)

Hall of the Mountain King

"In the Hall of the Mountain King is a piece of orchestral music composed by Edvard Grieg in 1875 as incidental music for the sixth scene of act 2 in Henrik Ibsen's 1867 play Peer Gynt. In the play, Dovregubben is a troll king that Peer Gynt invents in a fantasy." (Wikipedia)

Stranger Things Theme

"A love letter to the supernatural classics of the 80's, Stranger Things is the story of a young boy who vanishes into thin air. As friends, family and local police search for answers, they are drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top-secret government experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one very strange little girl." (notes from Netflix description) The version the Orchestra of Southern Utah will play is a new arrangement by OSU composer in residence Jacob Lee.

Psycho Suite

Bernard Herrmann's music for movies "went beyond just mimicking the onscreen action to elicit scares—they provided an undercurrent of unease that proved vital to the success of the whole film," (Wikipedia)  Director Alfred Hitchcock credited “33% of the effect of Psycho was due to the music.”  The OSU performance includes all of the first of the Suite and goes to the Finale after the Murder.

Isle of the Dead

"Isle of the Dead is the best-known painting of Swiss Symbolist artist Arnold Böcklin (1827–1901)."(Wikipedia) 

The music for "Isle of the Dead Op. 29, is a symphonic poem composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff, written in the key of A minor. The piece was inspired by a black and white reproduction of Arnold Böcklin's painting Isle of the Dead, which he saw in Paris in 1907. He composed the work from January to March of 1909." (Wikipedia)

 

Music Resources for Students, Parents, and Teachers and 2024-25 OSU Season

The Orchestra of Southern Utah believes in the value of music education for all ages. We provide school assemblies as well as hosting an October family Jubilee with music, science, and art activities.

We encourage students to participate in their school and community music programs. Learning to play an instrument or sing in the choir helps develop listening skills, confidence, and social skills.

This is a student in the Portland Youth Philharmonic:

 “My concentration has improved a lot,” Liao says. “It helps with your patience with everyday schoolwork as well.” Walker says that the orchestra “has taught me a lot about focus and being pretty professional at a young age.” “You’re motivated to work harder,” Yin says. “You help each other build up. It’s not really competitive. I don’t think the Philharmonic is something toxic. Everyone is helping each other out. In the Philharmonic, I feel like I’ve found my niche—a place where I can be safe and heard.” (student cellist Pearl Liao)

Full article: Youth orchestra builds students

Here is another resource including special activities for different age groups

Carnegie Hall teacher, parent, and student resources

We hope you will join us this season for concerts.  Season tickets now available at season ticket link

Here is a look at the impact of choir on a student:


By Muriel Barbery translated by Alison Andersen