2008 Woodie Awards
School of music unites orchestra, dance theater
Alex Lawson
Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: News
The School of Music will present a unique concert experience featuring the Chamber Orchestra collaborating with Illinois State Dance Theater Thursday night at 8 p.m.
The event will be held in the Center for Performing Arts Concert Hall. Tickets are $6 for the general public, $5 for faculty and staff, $4 for students and senior citizens and there will be no charge for children 6 and under. The Chamber Orchestra will play several pieces, including "Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saëns.
"It's a piece that's done regularly, but very rarely done with dance," Dr. Glenn Block, director of orchestras, said. "It's a piece that is used in early music appreciation classes here at the university level, and it's also used at a very early level at schools like the Metcalf lab school when very young students are learning which instruments they might like to play."
Block went on to say that the concert will be an opportunity for students of all ages to hear the piece live and get an appreciation for how the instruments truly function.
The dance that accompanies the orchestra was choreographed by the director of Illinois State Dance Theater, Laurie Merriman.
"The choreography is based in classical ballet technique," Merriman said.
Another unique facet to the concert is the addition of narration during the performance. Marc Lebovitz, coordinator of public information for ISU media relations, will read a collection of poems by Ogden Nash.
"Nash wrote very amusing poetry to accompany the music that Saint-Saëns had written, and it helps the listener understand and picture what animals he might have been imagining as he wrote the music," Lebovitz said.
To emphasize the animal theme of the evening, the School of Music will host an "instrument petting zoo" prior to the concert for young children and their parents.
"Young kids can come to the concert early and actually get a chance to see and touch the instruments," Block said. "It's just a very hands-on way to get them to learn about the instruments of the orchestra."
Merriman described the work as a passion project between her and Block. "It's the best case scenario when you have all these talented human beings on this end of campus," she said. "It was something we had been discussing since last spring, to bring live musicians and live dancers together to collaborate on a work and this is what resulted."
The concert will also include music from Igor Stravinsky and ISU graduate Brian Bromberg, whom Dr. Block described as, "one of the most exceptional talents that ever went through ISU during my tenure."
The event will be held in the Center for Performing Arts Concert Hall. Tickets are $6 for the general public, $5 for faculty and staff, $4 for students and senior citizens and there will be no charge for children 6 and under. The Chamber Orchestra will play several pieces, including "Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saëns.
"It's a piece that's done regularly, but very rarely done with dance," Dr. Glenn Block, director of orchestras, said. "It's a piece that is used in early music appreciation classes here at the university level, and it's also used at a very early level at schools like the Metcalf lab school when very young students are learning which instruments they might like to play."
Block went on to say that the concert will be an opportunity for students of all ages to hear the piece live and get an appreciation for how the instruments truly function.
The dance that accompanies the orchestra was choreographed by the director of Illinois State Dance Theater, Laurie Merriman.
"The choreography is based in classical ballet technique," Merriman said.
Another unique facet to the concert is the addition of narration during the performance. Marc Lebovitz, coordinator of public information for ISU media relations, will read a collection of poems by Ogden Nash.
"Nash wrote very amusing poetry to accompany the music that Saint-Saëns had written, and it helps the listener understand and picture what animals he might have been imagining as he wrote the music," Lebovitz said.
To emphasize the animal theme of the evening, the School of Music will host an "instrument petting zoo" prior to the concert for young children and their parents.
"Young kids can come to the concert early and actually get a chance to see and touch the instruments," Block said. "It's just a very hands-on way to get them to learn about the instruments of the orchestra."
Merriman described the work as a passion project between her and Block. "It's the best case scenario when you have all these talented human beings on this end of campus," she said. "It was something we had been discussing since last spring, to bring live musicians and live dancers together to collaborate on a work and this is what resulted."
The concert will also include music from Igor Stravinsky and ISU graduate Brian Bromberg, whom Dr. Block described as, "one of the most exceptional talents that ever went through ISU during my tenure."
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