Traveling orchestra busy on its final stop

Members of the American Wind Symphony Orchestra arrived in Cape Girardeau on Sunday afternoon and prepared for a busy three-day schedule of performances that will bring down the figurative curtain on the 52-year-old troupe.

Cape Girardeau is the 15th and last stop of this season's tour, which conductor Robert Austin Boudreau has said will be the symphony's last tour. This summer's tour has taken the orchestra to three of the Great Lakes as well as destinations along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.

Bruce Woods of Cape Girardeau, a retired music instructor, is one of the hosts who will house orchestra members during their stay. She and her husband, the late Dr. Harold Woods, hosted orchestra members during past visits to the area, most recently in 1994. She said even though she is now 82, she feels she has a lot in common with the young musicians who make up the American Wind Symphony Orchestra because she was part of a traveling choral troupe as a college student at Westminster College in the 1950s.

"It's a lot of fun to exchange stories with them," Woods said about her houseguests. "It's always been wonderful."

One of her guests on this tour is Angela Caceras, 36, an oboist from Colombia. Although significantly older than most of the symphony members, Caceras, who recently completed studies for her doctoral degree at Michigan State University, is playing with the group for her first season. She said the orchestra's repertoire will help her with her doctoral dissertation on contemporary oboe music.

"The orchestra plays a lot of contemporary classical music from all over the world -- Japan, Argentina, Canada, Russia -- a broad range," Caceras said.

Although being a member of the American Wind Symphony Orchestra may not be highly profitable, many members have used the experience as a springboard to careers as professional musicians with prestigious symphonies or as music educators.

The American Wind Symphony Orchestra features 40 brass, woodwind and percussion musicians who perform a broad spectrum of classical pieces ranging from masters such as Handel and Mozart to 20th century composers including George Gershwin and Aaron Copland.

A highlight of each performance is a new composition commissioned by Boudreau, who has conducted the group since he founded it in 1957. Tuesday evening's audience will be the first to hear "Vertientes" by Argentinean composer Javier Gimenez Noble.

Boudreau will arrive in Cape Girardeau on Point Counterpoint II early Tuesday. The 195-foot-long vessel is a floating arts center that features a concert stage, art gallery and home for Boudreau and his wife during the summer concert season.

Point Counterpoint II, piloted by Boudreau, will serve as stage for the orchestra during the main event of the visit, a riverfront concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Tickets can be purchased at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, Old Town Cape and Shivelbine's Music and Sound. Tickets will also be available at the Broadway and Themis Street entrances to Riverfront Park. The audience is invited to bring blankets and lawn chairs for seating.

After Point Counterpoint II has fulfilled its purpose with the symphony, the boat will travel to Louisiana where it will dock and be used as an educational center for art students. Boudreau said Cape Girardeau was chosen for the symphony's final performance because it is on the way to Louisiana.

Orchestra members will disperse into smaller groups for chamber music concerts at area schools, hospitals, churches and other venues today, Tuesday and Wednesday before departing Thursday.

7:30 p.m. Tuesday -- Public concert on the Mississippi Riverfront

Enter through Broadway or Themis St. floodgate. Feel free to bring blankets and lawn chairs.

Chamber Music concert schedule

Monday

9:40 a.m. -- Jackson High School (brass)

12:30 p.m. -- Cape Girardeau Central High School (two concerts)

1:20 p.m. -- Jackson High School (woodwinds)

2 p.m. -- Chateau Girardeau

6:30 p.m. -- Centenary United Methodist Church (combined)

Tuesday

11 a.m. -- Serena Hall-Southeast Missouri State University (woodwind quintet broadcast live on campus radio station KRCU)

Noon -- Southeast Missouri Hospital lobby/atrium

1 p.m. -- Blanchard Elementary

Wednesday

9:30 a.m. -- Franklin Elementary

10 a.m. -- Saxony Lutheran High School

10:30 a.m. -- Missouri Veterans Home

1 p.m. -- Alma Schrader Elementary

1 p.m. -- Cape Central Middle School (two concerts)

2 p.m. -- Jefferson Elementary School

Other events

5:30 p.m. today -- Reception at Buckner Brewing Co. Riverview Room

Tuesday -- Reception at Southeast Arts Council immediately following concert

7:30 p.m. Wednesday -- Sponsors Concert on board boa