Photo caption: Nathaniel Mauldin, Emma Hill, Fresno State Concerto Competition; and Joseph Cargill, guest conductor
Story by: Dr. Thomas Loewenheim
The Fresno State Symphony Orchestra, directed by Dr. Thomas Loewenheim, along with the Fresno State Grand Chorus, conducted by Dr. Cari Earnhart, will present its final concert of the season on Saturday, May 4, at 8:00 PM in the Department of Music Concert Hall.
Tickets are $15 general, $10 employees and seniors, $5 for students. Parking is free in lot P1.
The concert, titled “Spotlight on our Students”, will include four works showcasing top students from the Department of Music, and collaborating with all four of the Department of Music’s choirs, to create the Fresno State Grand Chorus, conducted by Dr. Cari Earnhart.
The evening will open with Richard Wagner’s magnificent Die Meistersinger Overture, an orchestral tour de force that displays the orchestra’s rich sounds and beautiful colors. The world premiere of graduate composition student, Nathaniel Mauldin, Fight or Flight, will follow. Fight or Flight is about the reaction of the autonomic nervous system in the inception of a tense situation and the body’s response when the brain feels it is threatened for its’ survival. While everyone reacts differently in every situation, the question that one is left with after hearing the work is: will you fight or will you fly?
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 was composed in 1959 during a highly productive and successful period in the composer’s life. It is considered to be his finest concerto because of the impeccable way it combines powerful musical ideas with extraordinary virtuoso writing for the solo instrument and will be performed by the winner of the 2018-2019 Fresno State Concerto Competition, Emma Hill.
For the grand finale the orchestra will be joined by the four Fresno State choirs: the Concert Choir, the Chamber Singers, the Masterworks Chorus, and the University Singers, to form the Fresno State Grand Chorus for Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem. The Requiem was composed in 1947 at the end of World War II, and unlike many Requiems, Duruflé sought to focus his setting on images of rest and peace. Soprano, Katie La Blue, and baritone, Christopher Rodriguez, will sing the leading roles, conducted by Dr. Cari Earnhart.
The College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State 