South Shore Orchestra will celebrate the beginning of their 10th season as Valparaiso’s community orchestra with this concert season dedicated to IMAGINE! This season looks forward to new ideas, new places and new energies emerging to entertain and educate our regional community through the universal language of music.
Soundscapes, the first concert, will be performed on Friday September 26 at Ivy Tech Auditorium Theater in Valparaiso at 7 PM. Music for this chamber concert allows the listener to IMAGINE various musical landscapes. . The entire chamber concert is presented as part of the week-long Great Lakes Music Festival sponsored by the Confucius Institute at Valparaiso University.
The program will feature Aaron Copland's original version of Appalachian Spring for 13 instruments. Copeland, a much loved composer that was often inspired by our unique and diverse American landscape, helped build an American musical identity that traveled from east to west. This piece was commissioned by choreographer Martha Graham for a ballet in 1944 and was premiered at the Library of Congress. Graham danced the lead role, while sets were designed by Japanese American sculptor Noguchi. Copeland received a Pulitzer Prize for Music for his creative orchestral work. One of the later movements is based on a Shaker folk tune titled Simple Gifts.
Other program features include Alberto Ginastera's, Impresiones de la Puna (Impressions of the Andes mountains) and special guest Erhu soloist,Ting Li, performing Moon Reflected on the 2nd Fountain and Galloping War Horses.
As a young Erhu virtuoso, Ting Li has a rare, balanced talent with dazzling technique and deep expression. She has won numerous local, provincial and national Erhu contests in China, and was chosen as the featured Erhu soloist for the gala concert of the 2nd Youth Olympic Games held recently in Nanjing, China.
The opening of the concert will also feature a dance troupe from North China Electric Power University of Beijing. This university was a host for South Shore Orchestra on their 1st tour of China in 2009