Composition about Civil War to premiere at concert tonight

A concert that will feature the collaboration of two area symphony orchestras and the world premiere of a Civil War-themed composition will be presented tonight at the River Campus of Southeast Missouri State University.

"It's going to be a memorable concert," said Dr. Sara Edgerton, professor of music at Southeast and director of the Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra.

The concert, Symphonic Spectacular, will bring together the Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra and the Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra to form one large and festive symphony orchestra.

"It will make for a huge symphony," Edgerton said. "It will also be a learning experience when we work together. The directors will be able to learn from one another, and so will the performers from the different orchestras."

Edgerton will be directing the first half of the Symphonic Spectacular, which will open with the overture, "Prelude to die Meistersinger," by German composer Richard Wagner.

"The overture contains a number of lively and inventive sounds," she said. "It will set the tone for war and conflict."

Following the overture will be the "Afro-American Symphony" by William Grant Still, who was the first African-American composer to break through racial barriers in the early 20th century.

"Still was the first African-American to be accepted and allowed to compose, even in the North," Edgerton said. "He was the first to have significant works performed by major American orchestras and opera companies."

"Afro-American Symphony," composed in 1931, was inspired by the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, himself one of the first African-American poets to gain widespread acclaim. The symphony mirrors the poetry of Dunbar in its deep expression of sorrow and hope for a brighter future.

The second half of the concert, directed by Edward Benyas of the Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra, will open with the world premiere of "Two Brothers: A Musical Remembrance of Families Divided by the Civil War," by composer James Stephenson. The composition is a narrative tone poem, telling the story of many families divided in allegiance during the war, and references in the narration will cite documented occurrences, such as the Halsey, Culp and McIntosh brothers, and a father who shot his own son in the heat of battle.

"Stephenson is an up-and-coming American composer," Edgerton said.

The narrators during "Two Brothers" will be Dr. Christopher Goeke, chairman of the Department of Music, and Dr. Frank Nickell, recently retired from Southeast and now the director of the State Historical Research Center in Cape Girardeau.

"It's going to be an interesting and engaging presentation," Nickell said. "It's about conflict, history and legacy, and it captures the drama and tragedy of the Civil War."

Goeke added that the narrations will be a combination of poems related to the war and from diaries kept during the time.

"I find that compelling," he said. "I anticipate it's going to be a moving performance."

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Bedell Performance Hall. There will be a preconcert talk at 6:45 p.m., which will be free to performance ticket holders. Tickets are $19 and $16 and are available online at rivercampusevents.com or by calling the River Campus box office at 651-2265.

klewis@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

518 S. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.