Shryock concert features special guest Edward Asner

The Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra will kick off its 100th anniversary celebration this Tuesday night with a performance featuring special narration by Edward Asner.

"SISO: Past, Present and Future" will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 1 at Shryock Auditorium. Tickets for the show are $13 and $7 for children 15 and younger.

The show encompasses elements representing the past, present and future of the orchestra, and all pieces were written in the last 100 years, according to Edward M. Benyas, director of SISO.

The evening begins with the "Festive Overture" by Dmitri Shostakovich, one of the best-known composers of the Soviet era. The overture was commissioned to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution, but because the composer fell out of favor with the Party, the work did not premiere until 1954. The piece opens with "brass fanfare" and ends with "a brilliant explosion of sound," sure to ignite the audience and set the mood for an evening of fine music.

The next selection is "Exodus, Suite Exodus" by William R. Hayes, an SIU alumnus currently heading the orchestra department of the Ypsilanti Public School District in Ypsilanti, Mich. The piece was written in 1974 and has gone through several revisions since then. It will be performed by a jazz trio, which will be led by Hayes, along with the orchestra. "Exodus, Suite Exodus" combines classical, spiritual, gospel and swing styles to create a piece that bonds classical orchestra with black "folk music" and celebrates the idea of mutual trust, acceptance and reliance between the world's peoples.

The concert then moves into "Secrets of War for Piano and Orchestra" written in 2003 by Frank Stemper, SIU's composer in residence for nearly 20 years. When it was suggested that he write a 9/11 piece for the show, Stemper declined. But as he wrote, he realized he was writing one.

"It seemed 9/11's savagery had stirred this cynical apolitical composer ... as I composed, I found myself trying to rationalize humanity's inhumanity," Stemper says in his production notes.

As Stemper wrote, he questioned whether music, an abstract art, could connect with a real life event and provide any enlightenment to the situation.

"The answer is obvious: The rationalization of hatred, greed and war is as abstract and indefinable as music," Stemper writes.

The piece will be performed under guest conductor Eric Mandat, a professor of clarinet at the and recipient of the 1999 SIUC Outstanding Scholar award.

After the intermission, the concert will return with "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," written by Sergei Rachmaninov in 1934. Pianist In Selvelieva, winner of the 2003 SIUC Solo Competition, will perform the piece. She is currently in the Masters program in Piano Performance at SIUC. The piece is a series of 24 variations upon a simple, jagged-like them by Nicolo Paganini and is considered one of Rachmaninov's most important later works.

It will be performed under guest conductor Jonathon Lam, associate conductor of SISO and principal conductor of the Southern Illinois Civic Orchestra.

The final piece of the night will be "Shoah: A Kaddish for Victims of the Holocaust" written by Scott Hines in 2001 and premiered by the Chicago Chamber Orchestra. The piece was written after Hines read poems composed by the children of Ghetto Theresienstadt and heard music composed in the camps.

"In "Shoah," I have attempted to musically reproduce the wide range of human emotion experienced in Theresienstadt, on the train from the Ghetto to Auschwitz, and in the death camp itself. A series of chords in different instrumental voices in the early section of the piece attempts to express the despair of the "residents" and the sense of eternal suffering. A violin solo near the middle of the piece expresses frustration and rage. And, at the end of the Klezmer-like dance, overshadowed by ever-present death and oppression, a clarinet screams maddeningly as the mind and the body reach their breaking points," Hines says in his production notes.

The piece will feature solos by Michael Barta on violin and Jennifer Davis on clarinet, as well as the narration of special guest Edward Asner.

Asner is best known for his role as Lou Grant on the comedy "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Asner has been the recipient of seven Emmy awards and five Golden Globe awards. He is an advocate for human rights, world peace, environmental preservation and political freedom and frequent speaker on labor issues. Earlier in the day, Asner will be on hand to speak as part of the "What I Have Learned" lecture series. The free event will take place at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 1 in Student Center Ballroom B. For more information, call 453-4009.

"SISO: Past, Present and Future" will be the final production by the orchestra for the 2002-2003 season. The members work year-round planning and preparing to make each show stand out, and this season's last show should prove to be no different.

"SISO: Past, Present and Future" will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 1 at Shryock Auditorium. Tickets are $13 and $7 for children 15 and younger. For more information or to charge by phone, call the box office at 453-2787.