NewsRelease

Faculty Musicians Head to the Movies, March 27
 

UNCG faculty members will play a selection of music tied to movies and film composers during a concert March 27. Pictured, left to right, are Janet Orenstein (violin), Brooks Whitehouse (cello), John Fadial (violin), Scott Rawls (viola) and Kelly Burke (clarinet).

GREENSBORO — When actor Willem Dafoe was gunned down moments after his friends’ helicopter took off in Oliver Stone’s 1986 Vietnam war film “Platoon,” the horror of the event was echoed by the haunting melody behind the action.

The music was Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” one of several themes included in the “Music in the Movies” concert Thursday, March 27, at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The concert’s repertoire will include music by film composers as well as music used in film soundtracks.

The performance is the finale of this year’s Artist Faculty Concert Series and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the School of Music Recital Hall. Frank Donaldson, professor of broadcasting and cinema, will provide commentary.

Written as the second movement of a string quartet in 1936, “Adagio for Strings” was arranged for string orchestra two years later and became Barber’s most popular composition. Performing the adagio will be the Gate City Camerata, a string ensemble of UNCG faculty and select students. The Camerata was formed five years ago and has since been a featured ensemble at the North Carolina Music Teachers Association Convention and at the North Carolina Music Educators Association Conference. Recent performances include four concerts on chamber music sponsored by the Wilmington Chamber Music Society, American Music Festival and Pamlico Musical Society.

The music of Bernard Herrmann, familiar to audiences through his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, will also be included in the program. Herrmann’s “Souvenir du Voyage, Quintet for Clarinet and Strings” will feature Kelly Burke (clarinet), John Fadial (violin), Janet Orenstein (violin), Scott Rawls (viola) and Brooks Whitehouse (cello).

Nino Rota’s “La Passerella di 8 ½” and Ezio Carabella’s “Rhapsodia Romanesca” will round out the program.

Rota penned numerous film scores as well as operas, symphonies and concertos. His film credits include a 30-year collaboration with Federico Fellini, which included the score to “La Dolce Vita,” and projects with Franco Zeffirelli  (“Romeo and Juliet”) and Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather”). “La Passerella,” from the 1963 film “8 ½,” will be performed by Ashley Barret (oboe), Kelly Burke (clarinet), Steven Stusek (alto saxophone) and Michael Burns (bassoon).

The “Rhapsodia Romanesca” is in two sections.  The first is a bold and turbulent theme that is full of fire and has a flavor that is Spanish in its sense of bravado. The second section is a Salterello, a lively Spanish or Italian dance that incorporates sudden leaping intervals. Pianist Joseph DiPiazza will accompany cellist Brooks Whitehouse for the piece.

“ ‘Rhapsodia Romanesca’ is a good example of one of many unpublished treasures that exist in the cello collection of Luigi Silva that is housed in Jackson Library's Special Collections,” Whitehouse said. The library’s collection is billed as the largest cello music collection in the world.

Silva appears to have been a friend of the composer Carabella. His arrangement "Rhapsodia Romanesca" for cello and piano is of music from Carabella's little-known ballet “Volti La Lanterna”.  Silva appears to have drawn his material from a published Carabella score in his collection that bears the inscription “to Luigi Silva, 1/5/35.”  The manuscript for the transcription is in Silva’s own hand.

In addition to the ballet, Carabella also composed the scores to the Italian films "The White Devil" (1948), "Dishonored" (1950) and "The Island of Procida" (1952).

Tickets are $8 adults, $5 seniors and non-UNCG students and $3 for UNCG students. Call the box office at (336) 334-4849 for more information, or visit the School of Music on the Web at www.uncg.edu/mus.

Back to the Latest News Releases
Return to the University News Service Home Page