Orchestra marks 35th anniversary

A volunteer orchestra made up of students, amateurs and professional musicians will take audiences from Vienna to Israel while celebrating its 35th anniversary at 8 p.m. Saturday. The Bloomington Symphony Orchestra's concert will present community-tied pieces written and preformed by local musicians.\n"Though the orchestra plays a wide range of everything from Baroque to contemporary music, we wanted to put together a program featuring Bloomington-related music by people with ties to the orchestra," said Michael Simmons, BSO board president.\nThe program, titled "The Composer and his Orchestra," features works by composers who have been involved with the local symphony and have written their pieces on commission specifically for the BSO.\nOne of these composers is BSO tuba player Paul Hartin. Hartin's piece, titled the "Night in Old Vienna Waltz," is written in the style of 19th-century Viennese waltzes of Johann Strauss Jr. It is dedicated to Hillard and Ruth Ann Trubitt, who for years sponsored the "Night in Old Vienna" dinner-dance, an annual gala during which orchestra members play, and Viennese food is served. \n"It is a very conscious imitation of the Viennese waltzes of Strauss," Hartin said. "It is genial, unpretentious and self-explanatory ... I just want to amuse and delight the audience by evoking the golden age of the waltz."\nAnother local composer featured on the program is Dave Canfield, who is section leader for the second violins as well as a BSO board member. Canfield had previously written two other pieces on commission by the BSO in 1986 and 2000. When he received this year's commission, Canfield said he decided to write a large-scale work and decided upon a symphony in three movements. It is his second symphony, his first being a master's thesis at IU nearly 30 years ago.\n"I wrote this symphony specifically for the instrumentation and skill level of the BSO," Canfield said. "Difficulty level is hard to judge, and I may have made it more difficult than I wanted to, but the orchestra worked hard and will pull it off."\nCanfield's symphony is subtitled "Israel," and he explained the origin of that name came as somewhat of an afterthought.\n"I'm not Jewish and I didn't intend to write this piece in a Jewish style, but I played it for a friend when it was two-thirds complete," he said. "He remarked that it sounded Jewish, and I immediately heard what he meant."\nHe added the subtitle and deliberately wrote it in a Jewish style, using a shofar -- ram's horn -- which is the first use of this instrument in an orchestral score, Canfield said.\nHe said his style in general is tonal, but with a free and complex tonality. \n"It would appeal to people with an exposure to classical and contemporary music," he said. "But you don't need to like modern music to appreciate this piece."\nCanfield described his goals when composing. \n"I don't write for posterity," he said. "I want to have the audiences that hear my music now enjoy it, and if it is good, then it can be passed to posterity."\nSimmons said Canfield's work is a world premiere, and that this fact illustrates the importance of live orchestras.\n"(The symphony) is not on a recording, so it is wonderful that the public can come and hear something completely unique," he said. "That is why we must keep live orchestras around."\nSimmons said he hopes for good attendance from the community.\n"The audience can listen to unique music they otherwise would not have the chance to hear," he said.\nThe concert will be held at Bloomington High School North Auditorium. Tickets for adults are $10 and students $8.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Adam Sedia at asedia@indiana.edu.