The sounds of musical instruments and harmonious voices will fill the air on Tuesday, April 26, when the Cameron Civic Chamber Orchestra and Cameron Concert Choir present a spring concert in the McCutcheon Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for senior citizens/military/K-12 students. Admission is free to CU students, faculty and staff with Cameron ID. All proceeds benefit student scholarships. As seating is limited, reservations are recommended; call 580-581-2346 to reserve tickets.
The Cameron Civic Chamber Orchestra, directed by Dr. Kirsten Underwood, will kick off the concert. The ensemble is made up of Cameron students, faculty and community members. Charlee Juarez, Lawton, serves as Concertmaster. Performers include Dolores Anderson, Donna Brox, Saya Cox, Susan Diekman, Caden Giles, Xavier McClure, Barbara Pickthorn, Angela Ruiz and Russell Simington.
The program will begin with Handel’s “Rodrigo Suite.” Born in Germany in 1685, Handel was the son of a barber‐surgeon who opposed music as his son's career. Handel studied law at Halle University and turned to composing music full‐time when his father died. His opera, “Rodrigo,” upon which this suite was based, was one of the composer’s early pre-London Italian operas, first performed in Florence in 1707. The “Rodrigo Suite” is made up of dances from this opera.
Two movements from Tomas Albinoni’s “Sonata a 5, Op. 2, No. 1” will follow. This piece is unique in that it includes two separate viola parts, an alto and a tenor. The Adagio is serene and contemplative, while the Allegro features an energetic theme used in imitation. Albinoni was a Baroque composer from Venice who was famous as an opera composer during his lifetime but is known today for his instrumental music.
The ensemble will then play Baldassare Galuppi’s “Andante,” a string orchestra arrangement of the first movement of “Piano Sonata No. 5.” Galuppi, born in the Venetian Republic in 1706, was part of a generation of composers (including Sammartini and C. P. E. Bach) whose works illustrate the Galant style that developed in Europe in the 18th century. Galuppi was renowned as a composer for the theater, writing more than 100 operas. The beautiful melodies in this Andante reflect the composer’s skill as an opera composer.
To complete the Civic Chamber Orchestra portion of the program, the ensemble will perform selections from Manookian’s “Album of Ballet Themes.” Featured will be ballet music from Schubert’s “Rosamunde,” Massanet’s “Espada,” Delibes’ “Coppélia,” and Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
The Concert Choir will then join the orchestra for the conclusion of the concert. Comprised of CU students, faculty member Dr. Shaun Calix and CU alumna Mena Stone, the Concert Choir is directed by Dr. Christian Morren. Students in the choir are Conrad Clark, Vanessa Cleophat, Samantha Cook, Kirstin Dunn, Samantha Gillespie, Brittany Hall, Harlie Hartage, Trent Haygood, Heather Heinz, Shay Hernandez and Heather Martin. They are joined by fellow students Rachel McCurry, Grace Norbury, Sarah Patterson, Alyssa Price, Veronica Squire, Mikayla Stephenson, Jaque Webb, MyKayla Waller, Kenneth Williams, Marckese Williams
The ensembles will perform Michael John Trotta’s “Caritas Abundat” for violin and choir, which will feature violin solos by Juarez and Cox. The work is described as an energetic reimagining of timeless text and tune from the 12th-century poet, composer, and philosopher Hildegard of Bingen.
“The piece is a new work, and its message is about unity, empowerment and the greater purpose each of us has in the world,” Morren says.”
The combined groups will then perform the famous “Lacrymosa” from Mozart’s “Requiem in D minor, K. 626.” Mozart composed part of the Requiem at the end of his life, but it was unfinished at his death. Franz Xaver Süssmayr completed the work and delivered it to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had commissioned the piece to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of his wife. “Lacrymosa” is the concluding movement of the “Sequentia” section of the Requiem.
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