Celebrating Great Masterworks

Orchestra of Southern Utah to Celebrate the Gift of Music

Written by Mary Furse

    Great masterworks are on the Orchestra of Southern Utah concert, conducted by Dr. Xun

Sun, OSU offers a festivity of music in a rich variety of orchestral voices and textures on

Thursday, February 10th, at 7:30 p.m. 

    The evening will open with Gioachino Rossini’s Overture

to La Gazza Ladra, known in English as The Thieving Magpie. It is said that the

composer had to be locked up the day before the opera’s premier, under the guard of four

stage hands, to finish writing the overture on time. He might have been short on time, but

the result of his hurried efforts has lasted to this day as a delightfully comedic piece full

of rising and falling action, with a near-constant rush and flurry under the surface or

blasting with excitement.

    In Five Variants of ‘Dives and Lazarus’, Ralph Vaughn Williams transforms a folk tune

into an orchestral reverie and flight. Beginning with warm swells, it rises like a gentle

wind running over the grassy hills of a verdant countryside. At times, it soars higher than

that, perhaps even to the glorious fires of an empyrean plane. Both violin and cello

soloists tie the melody back to the earth and its skies. Concertmaster Heather Wilhelm is

the violin soloist and section leader Nina Hansen plays the cello solo in this otherworldly

piece.

    Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 opens with a mysterious night flight, something different

from the mood of celebration, perhaps. But it isn’t long before the atmosphere changes –

effortlessly in the hands of Mozart’s genius – making the initial motif a song of

celebration. The music continues along avenues of sun and shade, then through a rain and

thunder shower. The second movement is more serene, but wakes up to moments of

moving feeling. The third movement takes on a serious and stately tone, leading to the

finale’s stormy, broody action. Yet, a sense of Mozart’s joy in music stirs throughout,

resonating with our own.

    Come celebrate with OSU on Thursday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Heritage Theater.

Concert ticket prices are as follows: $12 for adults, $6 for students over six years. $40

for a group of six individuals. Children over six years are welcome. No babies, please, as

concerts are recorded. Tickets are now available online at www.myosu.org.

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For Calendars:

WHAT: Orchestra of Southern Utah Concert

Dates: February 10, 2022 at 7:30 p.m.

Heritage Theater: 105 N 100 E Cedar City, UT 84720

OSU Celebration Concert Tickets: $12 Adults, $6 Students over 6 years. $40 group

of six.

More information: myosu.org

Poster design by Rollan Fell, Print Shoppe

Preview the concert music: https://osulistening.blogspot.com/2022/01/a-celebration-of-great-classics.html