The Gateway Festival Orchestra will open its 41st season of free outdoor concerts at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 11, in Washington University’s Brookings Quadrangle.
The performance, titled Dvorák + Dance, is conducted by James Richards, chair of music and professor of orchestral studies at the University of Missouri—St. Louis, who begins his second season as music director and conductor of the orchestra.
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WHO: Gateway Festival Orchestra WHAT: 41st annual summer concert series WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 11, 18 and 25 WHERE: Brookings Quadrangle, near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives COST: Free and open to the public INFORMATION: (314) 935-4841 |
The program, which honors the centennial of the passing of Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904), will feature the composer’s Symphony No. 8 in G Major, followed by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Danse négre; “Polovtsian Dances” from Alexander Borodin’s Prince Igor; and the Tritsch-Tratsch Polka of Johann Strauss, Jr.
Subsequent concerts take place Sunday July 18 and 25, also at 7:30 p.m. in Brookings Quadrangle.
The July 18 performance, Back to Nature, is comprised of works whose titles relate to nature, including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major (“Pastorale”); Alexander Glazunov’s music for the ballet The Seasons; and A Zoo Called Earth by Peter Schickele, the latter featuring KFUO-FM’s Ron Klemm as narrator.
The series concludes July 25 with Vienna’s Masters, a concert emphasizing music of composer’s working in Vienna. The program will include Mozart’s “Haffner” Symphony; Carl Maria von Weber’s Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra, with soloist Paul Garritson, instructor in clarinet in Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences; ballet music of Beethoven; and Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn.
“Washington University is pleased to provide a relaxing, pleasant atmosphere for families to picnic and listen to classical music,” said Sue Taylor, concert coordinator for the Department of Music, which co-sponsors the series. “Whereas the concert hall is generally not a suitable environment for young children, the Gateway Orchestra encourages parents to take advantage of this opportunity for their little ones to hear live music in comfortable surroundings.”
Brookings Quadrangle is located just west of Brookings Hall, near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives. The public is encouraged to bring lawn seating. Rain location is Graham Chapel, located just north of the Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd. For more information, call (314) 935-4841.
Additional sponsorship of these concerts is provided by: Arts & Education Council, Emerson, Missouri Arts Council and The Regional Arts Commission of Saint Louis.
The Gateway Festival Orchestra was established in 1964 by conductor William Schatzkamer, professor emeritus in piano in the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, and other local musicians, in part to provide summer employment to members of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Gateway was the first integrated professional orchestra in the St. Louis area and its formation ultimately led to the merger of the Black Musicians’ Association with the Musicians’ Association of St. Louis (now Local 2-197 of the American Federation of Musicians). The group originally performed on the downtown riverfront but relocated to Washington University’s in 1970.