Fall orchestra concert celebrates composer Howard Hanson

The Skidmore College Orchestra, in its 29 ^th consecutive season, will present its annual fall concert at 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9, in Zankel Music Center's Ladd Concert Hall.  

This season the orchestra, under the baton of Anthony G. Holland, places a special focus on a major romantic symphonic work by American composer Howard Hanson. The orchestra will also "consecrate" the new Helen Filene Ladd hall concert space with Beethoven's "Consecration of the House" overture. Tickets start at $5 for the general public, $3 for seniors, and are free for students with ID. More information and tickets are available online or by phone at 1-888-71-TICKETS (842-5327).

Howard Hanson became very famous in his lifetime for his 40-year tenure as director of the Eastman School of Music. His Symphony No. 2 is nicknamed "The Romantic" for its use of powerful soaring melodic writing and attractive harmonies. Composed in the 1930s, the piece calls for huge orchestral forces and was written in a style and with an approach to orchestration that that was later adopted by Hollywood blockbuster composers for generations of movie-goers. 

Hanson's use of soaring romantic melodies doubled by violins, celli, and horns became a common staple in hundreds of Hollywood feature films written many years after Hanson's work.  His colorful use of dramatic brass writing has also found its way into both film and serious classical musical works. "Star Wars," for example, is rife with brass licks that are drawn almost verbatim from Hanson's masterful work. In a case of life imitating art, Hanson's symphony itself was later excerpted and used for the film "Aliens" starring that alien-busting tough space traveler Sigourney Weaver, highlighting the tender moment when "Ripley's" own little baby alien is born as she hurtles to her death in a vat of boiling liquid metal.

On the same program, the orchestra will "officially" consecrate the new Helen Filene Ladd concert hall with an opening performance of Beethoven's "Consecration of the House" Overture. The work starts with three giant staccato chords, each time waiting for the sound to return from the hall back to the main stage, a true "acoustical consecration" of the acoustically tuned concert hall in Zankel, and with Beethoven's blessing for extra good measure.

The concert will also feature a new composition hailed across the country for winning the College Orchestra Director Association's International Composition Contest: "The Ever-Fixed Mark," by Marcus Karl Maroney.  The work is a roof-raising brass and percussion extravaganza which promises to act as the "contemporary consecration" of the hall's great acoustics. 

Rounding out the concert is Hungarian composer Ernst von Dohnanyi's "Wedding Waltz," which is a brilliantly orchestrated and written waltz so "catchy" that the orchestra members themselves can hardly refrain from swaying and nearly dancing during the performance.