Engaging all of the sense through musical sounds of nature, McLennan Community Orchestra returns to Bosque Arts Center’s Frazier Performance Hall Nov. 9
CLIFTON – Nature surrounds us in all its glory, and it engages all five senses – sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Invariably this engagement inspires artists from all artistic disciplines.
Waco’s McLennan Community Orchestra returns to Bosque Arts Center in Clifton to offer a concert inspired by nature, sponsored by the Bosque Civic Music Association, in the Frazier Performance Hall on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for the concert are $15 and reservations may be made online at BosqueArtsCenter.org. Students may attend at no charge, though reservations are still required. A wine and cheese reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. prior to the concert. For more information, please contact the Bosque Arts Center at (254) 675-3724.
The McLennan Community Orchestra is under the direction of conductor Dr. Peter Olson, who serves as a music instructor at McLennan Community College. For the upcoming concert, Olson selected five works from different era’s inspired by nature.
The uplifting, light first movement of Ludwig Von Beethoven Symphony No. 6 also called the “Pastoral” symphony opens the concert. Composed in the first decade of the 19th century, Beethoven titled the first movement, “Awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside,” and the piece also featured in Disney’s Fantasia.
Czech composer Bedřich Smetana’s “Die Moldau” then takes the concert meandering along the Moldau/Vltava River’s course through Bohemia – now the Czech Republic – including Prague. It premiered in Prague in 1882.
A huge jump in time takes the concert to selections from the 2010 DreamWorks film How to Train Your Dragon. John Powell composed the film score for the animated film Olson described this selection as “a short but fun piece that many people will recognize.”
The first movement of Jean Sibelius Symphony No. 2 is a lesser-known work by the Finnish composer which he completed in 1902. While Olson said this work is not directly about nature, he called it a great symphony which many believe “evokes the northern landscapes of Finland.”
The concert’s finale features a new piece by “Through the Bay,” by young American composer Joe Jaxson. According to Olson the McLennan Community Orchestra were part of a consortium of college and community orchestras that commissioned this piece from Jaxson. Jaxon is a graduate student studying composition at the University of Texas at Austin.
“His inspiration for the piece was his first trip to Seattle and going on a boat ride through the Bay,” Olson said.
The McLennan Community Orchestra, composed of a mixture of string, wind and percussion players was founded in 2020 to include both students and community musicians.
Photos by SIMONE WICHERS-VOSS
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Excellent article. I love your descriptions of the various selections. Thanks for sharing your talents.
See you at the concert. It will be a wonderful musical journey.
Don