Orchestra to celebrate milestone

Skidmore College's Department of Music presents the Filene Concert Series featuring the Skidmore College Orchestra in a 30th anniversary concert at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11_,at the Arthur Zankel Music Center.

Four classical pieces will highlight this special anniversary concert with Music Director Anthony G. Holland. The program includes Verdi's The Force of Destiny Overture, which was first performed in the Bolshoi Kammenny Theatre of St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1862. This dramatic Verdi piece holds a dubious history of a mythical curse with stories of power outages, scenery moving on its own, and even one singer falling to death at the Metropolitan Opera.

A second piece chosen for this night of celebration is The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives, which is a contemplative American work composed in 1906 with three distinctive layers. The audience will need to pay attention to the entire hall to see where musicians have been hidden to create this multi-layer sound.

The program also includes Norwegian Dances, Op. 35, composed in 1883, by Edvard Grieg. It is a piece in true celebratory folk style, filled with beautiful, sinuous harmonies.

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, composed by Franz Liszt, is a lively piece of varying tempos and octaves. Leroy Anderson's Sleigh Ride will cap the evening.

For three decades, the Skidmore College Orchestra – featuring Skidmore students and top players from several regional professional orchestras – has performed magnificent music. This 30th anniversary concert is also the celebration of Holland, who is a composer, conductor, electronic musician, and a performer. He attended the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music in Berea, Ohio, and received in 1978 a bachelor of music degree with concentrations in composition and vocal performance. Holland then earned a master of music degree in 1982 at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Case-Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, graduating with both a master of music degree in composition, another in music theory, and a doctor of musical arts degree.

He has performed with the Cleveland Civic Light Opera Company, the Baldwin-Wallace Annual International Bach Festival, and the Bethesda Schola Cantorum, among others. Since 1982, Holland has been an associate professor of music, the director of the electronic music facilities, and a conductor at Skidmore. His works have been performed live and broadcast on radio in the United States, South America, western and eastern Europe, and in China.

Admission for the Dec. 11, 8 p.m. Skidmore College Orchestra performance is $8 general admission, $5 seniors and Skidmore faculty/staff/retirees/alumni, and free for students and children. For advance reservation visit www.skidmore.edu/zankel or call the Zankel box office (518) 580- 5321 for more information. The Zankel Music Center is wheelchair accessible and offers listening devices for the hearing impaired. For more information, please visit www.skidmore.edu/zankel .