Inside Iowa State
August 25, 2000
World premiere highlights music season
by Dave Gieseke, LAS Public Relations
A world premiere, a holiday opera and four special ensemble
concerts are just some of the events scheduled this fall by
the music department.
Several performances will take on a family-oriented theme as Iowa State launches a year-long celebration on "Strengthening families to become to the best."
The Bells of Iowa State will ring out favorite American songs for the Carillon Festival Sept. 22-24. Carillon recitals featuring guest artist Beverly Buchanan and Iowa State's Tin-shi Tam, will be held Friday and Saturday. A Sunday afternoon family concert on central campus will conclude the festival.
The holiday opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, will be presented in November, with one performance coinciding with the annual Holiday Festival of Lights.
The first opera written expressly for television, Amahl and the Night Visitors, follows a boy and his mother as they meet the three kings during their search for the Christ child. The ISU Opera Theatre and the ISU Symphony Orchestra will join forces to present this story.
In November, the Ames Piano Quartet will present a world premiere of a piece by the renowned American composer Lee Hoiby. The new work, Dark Rosaleen, consists of variations on a melody by James Joyce and was commissioned by the Ames Town and Gown Chamber Association to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The program also will include the Brahms Piano Quartet in F Minor, with guest violinist John Gilbert.
Also in November, international opera star Simon Estes will join the music faculty for a performance of another major work by Hoiby, based on Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
Patriotic tunes, band standards, choral selections and holiday classics traditionally are featured in four musical extravaganzas by the ensembles at Iowa State. The concerts include:
- Celebrate America -- Let Freedom Ring, 7: 30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, in Stephens. The 2000 Celebrate America concert will feature selections from the major performing ensembles in the music department. The ISU Symphony Orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky's The 1812 Overture.
- Collage of Choirs, in October. The one-of-a-kind concert enters its 21st year at Iowa State and will feature a wide variety of choral music. More than 300 students from all seven Iowa State choral ensembles will perform.
- Band Extravaganza, in November. The afternoon of musical entertainment that will feature everything from the classics to jazz. The ISU Marching Band will make its only indoor performance of the year. The performance brings together more than 500 of Iowa State's musicians.
- Holiday Festival of Music, in December. Celebrate the holidays with the sounds of 400 musicians in the 44th annual holiday concert. Iowa State's instrumental and choral ensembles will present entertainment for the entire family, offering traditional seasonal music and holiday favorites.
Tickets for the music and theater events are available at the Iowa State Center Ticket office, Ticketmaster locations or by calling 233-1888.
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