The WVU Symphony Orchestra will present a concert of quintessential American orchestral works on Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre.
The concert will open with Dudley Buck’s “Festival Overture on the American National Air,” which was written for the Independence Day celebration of 1879 and has delighted audiences ever since. The concert continues with Florence Price’s “Andante Moderato,” a heartfelt, lyrical piece deeply rooted in African American spirituals, and Aaron Coplan’s suite from the ballet “Appalachian Spring of 1944,” which weaves in Appalachian fiddling styles and a shaker tune to create a memorable image of early settlers in Pennsylvania. Then, the Symphony Orchestra will move into the “West Side Story Selection,” arranged by Jack Mason, which brings together several songs from Leonard Bertstein’s “West Side Story” of 1957 in a tapestry of American musical styles. The performance will conclude with George Gershwin’s jazz-influenced tone poem “An American in Paris” of 1928, merging French and American sounds in depicting the atmosphere and feeling Gershwin experienced during a trip to Paris during the Roaring 20s.
