Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra performs 'Peter and the Wolf' and 'Hiawatha' Tuesday

Music will tell a story Tuesday at the Bedell Performance Hall.

The Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra will perform "Peter and the Wolf" and "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast." In both, characters are represented by musical instruments.

"It's very appealing and interesting, and it's fun to play. Different instruments become different characters," said conductor Sara Edgerton.

The concert will be the second and final performance by the orchestra for the semester. On Oct. 14, the orchestra played a "gala season opener" featuring the work of Mozart and Beethoven. Two guest soloists from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra performed.

This time, featured performers are Paul Thompson, professor of applied flute at Southeast, who will narrate "Peter and the Wolf," and Chris Goeke, chair of the music department and tenor soloist in "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast."

The University Choir and Choral Union, consisting of mostly community singers, will join the orchestra for the second half of the concert.

In "Peter and the Wolf," a boy catches a wolf and enlists villagers' help to get the wolf to a zoo. The tale has become a Walt Disney classic. In Sergei Prokofiev's composition, the flute becomes a bird, the oboe a duck, and the french horn the wolf. Peter is played by the strings.

The idea of using musical instruments to portray characters may remind some enthusiasts of the orchestra's March performance of "Carnival of the Animals," which also used a narrator.

"These are both pieces I've been wanting to do for a long time," Edgerton said.

"Hiawatha's Wedding Feast" is a musical adaption of the epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Steven Hendricks, director of choral activities and music education, will conduct the choir.

"Peter and the Wolf" was performed 20 to 30 years ago, but this is the first time for "Hiawatha's Wedding Feast," Edgerton said.

"We're going to put two pieces together that are not often heard down here," she said.

lbavolek@semissourian.com

388-3627