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CONCERT REPORT CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: THE MOORES SCHOOL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Introduction
This paper entails a concert report about a chamber orchestra in reference to the Moores School Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra boasts its talented and extraordinary artists, composers, theorists, musicologists, and music educators, whose collaborative efforts make their concerts outstanding. Its history can be traced to 1940 when the Moores School of Music was formed, and it stills remains powerful. The Moores Opera’s Centre has always stood out among the audiences of Houston. Even as a kid in, the hall fascinated me and seemed to draw my attention like a beautiful butterfly emerging from its cocoon. It is located in the University of Houston, 120 School of Music Building. Admired by many for its mastery of architecture, the Moores Opera Centre hall oozes its majestic design and is probably the best university opera production facility in the U.S. It is certainly a beauty to behold. This was the location of The Moores Chamber Orchestra virtuosi performance on 30th August, 2014. The stage 70 feet high, 60 feet wide and 125 feet long was set in a concave manner (I learnt later that this was to help focus the sound). The dark wooden floor seemed to be in agreement with the performers’ attire for the night.
Dedication and Acknowledgement
The concert was given in memory of Richard Schissler dedication for his generous support to the Moores School of Music, including her students, and her mission. In addition, The Moores School Symphony Orchestra thanked its dedicated members who contributed to the preparation of the program. The Moores School Symphony Orchestra is guided by well learned individuals who ensured that the programs were arranged to the best of their ability to bring out the best concert possible. Due to the nature of the message that the orchestra wanted to portray, the Moores School Symphony Orchestra had to use a perfect colorful tone for the dedication. This required a combination of talented voice artists and instrument players to pass the commemoration tone to the audience. It was really a colorful moment for everyone.
Players
The Key players included Catherine, Arne Aimroth, Kris Chapman, and Michelle Perrin Blair. Their roles in the concert differed significantly, but this difference brought about the great experience received by the audience. The roles they played depended on their experiences and careers.
Catherine is a fifth year undergraduate student pursuing a Bachelors degree in music education and vocal performance from Moores School of Music. She has previously studied voice under the tutelage of Dr. Tracy Satterfield as part of the Houston Grand Opera‘s High School Voice Studio but is now studying voice with Cynthia Clayton. She is a soprano section leader and one of the conductors of the alcapella ensembre Ardore. She has appeared in numerous productions with the Moores Opera Center. Her role was to play the soprano voice.
Arne Aimroth, conductor, on the other hand is a doctorate student in the studio of Franz Anton Krager. He graduated from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden where he is a native. He initially studied voice before conducting with the legendary Eric Ericson. He is conducted many prominent orchestras in the Scandinavia like Nordic Chamber Orchestra and Trondheim Symphony among many others. He has travelled across the globe due to his work in countries like Japan, Taiwan, Canada, US and other European nations. At Moores School of Music, he is anticipating for March 2015 in order to conduct the Sibelius Second Symphony in March 2015 and the Catan’s Rappaccini’s Daughter in the following month.
Kris Chapman is beginning his third season as the Artistic Director of the Houston Heights Orchestra and is the newest member of Franz Anton Kroger conducting group. Kris is very talented and the orchestra has recorded increased number of audience attendance, successful tackling of hard orchestral performances and an increase in the number of members joining Horal this has been accomplished under his supervision. He has an impressive resume listing him as Professor of Music at Lone Star College Montgomery among many other accomplishments.
Michelle Perrin Blair is among the 85 women from Canada and the US to be honored as a leader within her field. She has received the PEO Scholar Award. She works daily with young musicians mainly as their senior conductor especially with the Houston Youth Symphony. She is also the assistant Orchestra Director at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory. She further serves as the General Manager at the University of Houston and at the same time as the Stuff Conductor for the Moores School Symphony Orchestra. She is the AURA Contemporary Ensemble’s Assistant Director. She was participating to dedicate her performance to the late Richard Schissler. In this regard, her performance tone depicted respect and sorrow as part of her dedication.
Programs
Various programs were scheduled to cover the entire concert. The programs included Vorrei Spiergarvi oh Dio k. 418, No che non sei capace k.419, Variociones Concertantes, and Overture to Don Giovanni, k527. This required the participation of different music artists/artistes in different music programs. The use of flutes instruments contributed to a common pitch in all four players. Short and long flutes were incorporated to sharpen and the tone and vice versa and to adjust the pitch of the music tone. Generally, the flutes contributed by allowing a significant degree of the music ornamentation, especially given that the music genre was classical music.
On the other hand, clarinets were important in adding tone and texture to the classical music concerts and was useful in bring out different tones as per the message being conveyed. It was responsible for a distinctive in the music, and created variations between chalumeau, clarion, and the altissimo in each of the four performances. The tone quality was greatly elevated by the use of this instrument. Similarly, horns were responsible for the music tone and pitch.Playing the Harp yielded was one of the most interesting sounds in the music concert and the most important in differentiating the themes. It was basically used as a solo instrument in the concert. Typically, it was the key instrument giving an impression of the music genre being performed since it mainly applies to classical music performances. It was also used as a symbol for the group and its traditions. Another important instrument incorporated to bring about theme and tone differences was the trombone. This instrument also added a unique sound value to each performance since it was incorporated to yield different sound tones and themes.
General Style Features
The Moores School Symphony Orchestra held the series on 30thAugust 2014 at the Opera Centre bringing an end to what can only be described as a successful tour. The program was nothing short of perfection, especially given that a combination of various players and musical instruments was initiated to enhance the music quality through bringing out the best melody, harmony, rhythm, tone color, form, tempo, and dynamics. These music aspects could even make the audience deviate from the message being passed across.
The high pitch of the music performance was noticeable through the high sound frequency being experienced by the audience. I can comfortably say that pitch was indefinite since it included clear music aspects like harmony, tone, tessitura, tonality, and temperament. The music timbre was very high and completely acceptable given the high quality of the music sound. The music intensity was high to bring out a happy commemoration moment for the work done by the person to whom the concert was being dedicated. The duration was long, but this was caused by the specific rhythm of the music given it genre.
The audience was guided through each piece in a perfectly assembled manner; playing out classic pieces alongside some rarely heard masterpieces. The performance mined a vein of acerbity. The Moores School Symphony Orchestra produced an attractive complex layers but couched in the composers’ Spartan harmonic language. Soprano, Lavelle Florence gave a marvelous version of Variociones Concertantes encasing it in two concert arias. She dazzled us with her highly energetic leading performance throughout the evening. This rendition was pleasing; the 8-note bass line did not wear thin thanks to the musical creativity of the concert leader.
Conclusion
The concert was scheduled in different programs to enhance faultlessness. In total, there were four programs, for each of the lead players. Each program involved a music concert by a different artist from the four artists. This arrangement was meant to augment the theme of the entire concert and create a broader space for the concert. Typically, the first half of the evening concluded with a rambunctious performance of Vorrei Spiergarvi oh Dio. On the other hand, No che non sei capace KV 419’s rendition created something of a show-stop combining elements from the tango, and the blues. Lavelle Florence had given a marvelous version of Variociones Concertantes encasing it in two concert arias. Overture to Don Giovanni, K 527 then concluded the performance. Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36 of Beethoven was the last piece to be played. The concert was highly delightful.
