(Posted April 15, 2008)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- The Juniata College Orchestra, together with several smaller instrumental groups, will perform an eclectic program of instrumental music ranging from Bela Bartok to the Beatles at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 23 in Rosenberger Auditorium in the Halbritter Center for the Performing Arts.

The concert is $3 for adults and free for children under 18 and students with a valid Juniata I.D. card. The concert was originally scheduled for April 26, but the college moved the event due to a scheduling conflict with a sports event. The Juniata Orchestra is directed by James Latten, assistant professor of music at Juniata.

The concert opens with Juniata's Saxophone Quartet, led by David Lewis, lecturer in music at Juniata. The four-person group will perform "Three Short Pieces," edited by Himie Voxman. The three pieces are all by major composers: "Chorale," by Johannes Brahms; "Andante Grazioso," by Bela Bartok; and "Allegro Robusto," also by Bartok.

The quartet also will perform "Bouree," by Johann Sebastian Bach, "Bee's Knees," by noted film composer Lennie Niehaus, and "She Loves You," the popular Beatles tune written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Juniata's Cello Choir, directed by Evelyn Bookhammer, lecturer in music at Juniata, will perform "Hungarian Dance No. 5," by Brahms, followed by the college's String Quartet, playing "String Quartet No. 52 in E flat major" by Franz Josef Haydn. The string quartet is led by Debbie Trudeau, lecturer in music.

The full orchestra will close the concert, opening with "Concerto in G Minor for Two Celli," by Antonio Vivaldi. The ensemble will then play the "Prometheus Overture," by Ludwig von Beethoven, which was written for the Beethoven ballet of the same name. The concert transitions into more modern music with selections from "Pirates of the Caribbean," by Klaus Badelt.

The concert will end with a performance of "Hoedown," by 20th century composer Aaron Copland. "Hoedown" is one of Copland's most familiar compositions. It is part of his original ballet "Rodeo." "Hoedown" became famous as the theme music in a commercial from America's Beef Producers that told consumers "Beef, It's What for Dinner."

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.