Symphony’s ‘American Tapestry’ highlights composers from U.S.

Features Lifestyle Top Stories Facebook X Pinterest WhatsApp By Michelle Stein • [email protected] LIMA — The Lima Symphony Orchestra will perform its second concert of the season, titled “An American Tapestry,” this weekend under the direction of music director candidate Fernanda Lastra. Lastra is one of 12 finalists vying to become the new Lima Symphony Orchestra director, and she will put her skills on display as part of the next stage of the audition process. “The concert is inscribed into the 250th anniversary of American independence, and it is part of Lima Symphony’s model for this season,” Lastra said. “Five American composers are featured from different periods of time. And it’s quite a varied program.” The concert begins at 3 p.m. Sunday at Veterans Memorial Civic Center. Tickets are available for $10 to $55 via tinyurl.com/y6bmfa37 . To kick off the concert, the group will perform “Spectacle of Light,” written by Stacy Garrop in 2020. “The piece is based on Handel’s ‘Music for the Royal Fireworks,’” Lastra explained. “The music depicts fireworks, and I thought of bringing these festive sounds at the beginning of the concert in celebration of the 250th anniversary was perfect.” Additionally, the concert will feature “Violin Concerto, Op. 14” by Samuel Barber, featuring a Grammy Award-winning violinist. “The Barber violin concerto was written in the ’40s, actually, and is also pretty modern. It’s one of the most performed and renowned American violin concertos,” Lastra said. “We have the fortune to have Melissa White as a soloist performing the Barber violin concerto.” After an intermission, the Lima Symphony Orchestra will return for three more pieces, starting with George Whitefield Chadwick’s “Hobgoblin” from “Symphonic Sketches.” Lastra called him “one of the first generations of composers that wrote American classical music.” She added, “He was part of a group called the Boston Six. He was also a director of the New England Conservatory. I mean, very prolific, very engaged in creating the American voice.” Next up is “American Suite, Op. 98” by Antonin Dvořák, a Czech composer who came to America in 1892 and created the “New World” symphony. “That was his landmark to prove that America has its own voice and that composers should pursue bringing that voice and not copying the European canon, but trying to find their own path, their own way to say things.” Finally, the Lima Symphony Orchestra will conclude with three dance episodes from “On the Town” by Leonard Bernstein. “This piece is full of energy, jazz, rhythm, syncopations,” Lastra said. “I hope people love it because I think it’s a very nice way to end the concert. And to show all the character of American music — from jazz to classical to spirituals brought by the music in the Dvořák Suite or by living composers, like Stacey Garrup. So we have a little bit of everything.” Featured Local Savings