Friends of Music Concerts

Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra • September 17, 2011, 8:00 p.m.
Now in its fifth season, the Eastern Panhandle’s very own professional chamber orchestra has received wide critical acclaim and performs staples of the classical chamber orchestra repertoire as well as new, beautiful and unusual works. 2RCO, guest conducted by Tara Simoncic presents Edvard Grieg - Holberg Suite - Op. 40, Kenneth Fuchs - Eventide (Concerto for English Horn and String Orchestra), and Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony no. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 "Pastoral".
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Glenn Miller Orchestra • September 22, 2011, 8:00 p.m.
The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra is the most popular and sought after big band in the world today for both concert and swing dance engagements. With its unique jazz sound, the Glenn Miller Orchestra is considered to be one of the greatest bands of all time. The present Glenn Miller Orchestra was formed in 1956 and has been touring consistently since, playing an average of 300 live dates a year all around the world. As of January 2011, trombonist Gary Tole is the orchestra’s music director.
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Masterworks Chorale
November 5, 2011, 8:00 p.m. (St. James Catholic Church, Charles Town) or November 6, 2011, 7:30 p.m. (Frank Center)
Beethoven, Mass in C Major • Sibelius, Finlandia • Brahms, Alto Rhapsody
Beethoven wrote his Mass in C major, Op. 86, to a commission from Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II in 1807. Of the work, Michael Moore writes "While [it] is often overshadowed by the immense Missa Solemnis, written some fifteen years later, it has a directness and an emotional content that the latter work sometimes lacks." The widely-read Penguin Guide to Compact Discs (2004 edition) forthrightly calls the work a "long-underrated masterpiece."
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Piffaro • November 11, 2011, 8:00 p.m.
Piffaro, the nation’s finest Renaissance wind band, is world-renowned for its highly polished performances as the pied pipers of Early Music. Piffaro is also active in education and workshops, as collaborators in the research and making of historically based instruments and programs, and as experts in reed-making and Renaissance performance practice.
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Holiday Gala Concert •
December 3, 2011, 7:30 p.m. or December 4, 2011, 3:00 p.m.
Enjoy classic sounds of the season featuring the Shepherd University Wind Symphony, Chamber Singers, Camerata Singers, Masterworks Chorale and others. Followed by a reception at the Cress Creek Country Club on Saturday.
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Eaken Trio • January 12, 2012
Now in their 25th season, this trio travels and performs extensively throughout America, Canada, Europe, and Asia. The Trio is heard regularly on classical music radio including National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and Performance Today, and they have 12 commercial CDs under the Naxos, Eroica, Catalpa Classics, and Con Brio labels.
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PROJECT • February 14, 2012, 8:00 p.m.
PROJECT Trio is a passionate, high energy chamber music ensemble comprised of three virtuosic composer/performers from Brooklyn, NY. Blending their classical training with an eclectic taste in musical styles, PROJECT Trio has made an impact on audiences of all ages. Bursting onto the scene with their landmark videos, right out of the internet generation, PROJECT Trio is a musical experience defining a new level of entertainment!
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Gary Hobbs • March 3, 2012
"Gary Hobbs became a legend in his own time as the drummer who joined the Stan Kenton Orchestra right out of college, following such class acts as Gene Krupa and Shelley Manne. At 59, with 38 years of gigging behind him, he is still the guy who drives big bands, undaunted by tempo changes or polyrhythms. But with smaller groups, Hobbs is also the guy on the cajon set, who coaxes organic Latin rhythms from wooden boxes and goat hooves." ~Nancy Barker
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Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra • March 10, 2012, 8:00 p.m.
Now in its fifth season, the Eastern Panhandle’s very own professional chamber orchestra has received wide critical acclaim and performs staples of the classical chamber orchestra repertoire as well as new, beautiful and unusual works. 2RCO, guest conducted by Stephen Czarkowski presents John Adams - The Chairman Dances, George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue with Soloist Scott Beard, John Adams - Tromba Lontana, and Dvořák - Symphony no. 8 in G Major, Op. 88.
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Masterworks Chorale
April 21, 2012, 8:00 p.m. (St. James Catholic Church, Charles Town) or
April 22, 2012, 7:30 p.m. (Frank Center)
Rossini, Stabat Mater • Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 (Final Movement)
Rossini composed "this poor little Mass" (his own words) in 1832, but Stabat Mater had its premier in its definite form in 1842. The poet Heine wrote after hearing the piece that the theater seemed "a vestibule of heaven". The audiences were deeply moved by the somber beauty of the long opening and taken by the beautiful melodies of the following movements. As evidence of Rossini’s serious purpose the work ends with a great double fugue.
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The King's Singers • March 20, 2012, 8:00 p.m.
One of the world’s most celebrated ensembles, The King’s Singers have a packed schedule of concerts, recordings, media and education work that spans the globe. Championing the work of young and established composers, they remain consummate entertainers; a class-act with a delightfully British wit.
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