Clinton Symphony Orchestra will open its 70th Anniversary concert season Saturday in Vernon Cook Theater at Clinton High School.
Violinist Marcia Henry Liebenow, Concertmaster of Peoria Symphony Orchestra and professor at Bradley University, will be the guest soloist, performing the Concerto in G Minor by Max Bruch with the orchestra. She holds degrees in Violin Performance from Ohio University and the New England Conservatory.
The 50-piece orchestra is conducted by Brian Dollinger, now beginning is 16th season as its music director. He has chosen the overture from Beethoven’s incidental music The Ruins of Athens, written to accompany a play of the same name to open the concert, and will conclude with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F Major.
Although well-known for his many compositions during his lifetime, Bruch’s violin concerto is one the few to have gained a foot-hold in the standard repertoire. First performed in 1866, he revised it to its present form in 1868.
Beethoven fondly referred to his Eighth Symphony as “my little Symphony in F.” It is generally light-hearted, and various passages in the symphony are heard by some listeners to be musical jokes.
Clinton Symphony Orchestra was organized under sponsorship of the Clinton Junior Women’s Club. It serves a large area of Eastern Iowa and Northwest Illinois, drawing musicians and patrons equally from the two states. Some of the present seven concerts each season are held in Sterling, Morrison, and Clinton.
An “Overture to the Season” dinner is planned for 5:30 Saturday in the Clinton High School Commons, adjacent to the theater. Reservations are required, and due by September 19. Cost is $15 per person. Call for reservations at 563-212-6075.
Tickets for Saturday’s concert are available at the door. Adult price is $20, and all students are admitted free of charge. In addition, a student may bring an accompanying adult for half-price. Season tickets are also available at this first concert, representing a 25% savings.
Additional information, including full program notes for the music to be performed is available on the Symphony’s website at www.clintonsymphony.org.
