Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra to perform in China next month

Members of the Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra will leave the Mississippi River behind when they travel to the Far East next month, but they will bring along music inspired by the river.

"It's kind of like we're taking our river and sharing it with China," said Dr. Sara Edgerton, the orchestra's artistic director.

The orchestra, made up mainly of Southeast Missouri State University students, will tour China, playing four concerts in eight days. The performances include a musical interpretation of a trip down the Mississippi River, a composition by Southeast professor Dr. Robert Fruehwald.

Principal flute player Tanesha Reeves performs a solo during the piece. She said the song brings out different characteristics of the river, including flute accents that could be interpreted as fish jumping out of the water or birds.

"I think of it as a bunch of different things happening at the river," said Reeves, a junior studying performance and music education.

Angie Iacampo, right, and Jarred Harris with the Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra rehearses Johann Sebastian Bach's "Sinfonia" at the River Campus in preparation for their first international tour to Shanghai and Beijing in May. (ELIZABETH DODD ~ edodd@semissourian.com)

The orchestra will leave May 23 for Beijing. During the 10-day trip, the 35 orchestra members will also stop in Shanghai and Hangzhou in the eastern part of the country. The visit features performances along the way, including one on the Great Wall of China, weather permitting.

"Right there, that'll seal the deal for me," said Jarred Harris, the principal string bass player. Harris, who grew up in Cape Girardeau, said he's traveling out of the country for the first time. Playing on the Great Wall will be the highlight for him, he said.

"I've seen it in social studies books, in pictures and movies," said Harris, a senior studying performance and music education. "The fact that I'm playing on the wall, that says a lot."

Edgerton said she got the idea for the tour after performing in the country during a sabbatical in the spring of 2007. She wanted her students to share the experience, she said.

"I couldn't speak a word of their language, but as soon as I started to perform, we could communicate," she said.

Edgerton said she hopes observing the political climate and culture of a communist country will help the students appreciate their freedoms.

"It's a very different world, and it will be eye-opening," she said.

The students will sit in on classes to see the learning techniques used by Chinese professors, she said. The orchestra will also share the stage with its Chinese counterpart during a performance at Shanghai Normal University.

"I think that will be a wonderful way to break down barriers," she said.

The orchestra will have a preview performance of music for the China tour at 7:30 p.m. May 5 in the Bedell Performance Hall at Southeast's River Campus. Tickets are available by calling the River Campus box office at 573-651-2265 or MetroTix at 800-293-5949.

abusch@semissourian.com

388-3627

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