IU Chamber Orchestra performs tonight

At 8 p.m., the Jacobs School of Music Chamber Orchestra will perform in IU’s Auer Hall under the baton of Principal Guest Conductor Uriel Segal. On the program is the Overture “Il matrimonio segreto,” by Domenico Cimarosa, an orchestra version of Giuseppe Verdi’s String Quartet in E Minor and the Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37, by Ludwig van Beethoven.\nThe Opera “Il matrimonio segreto,” or “The Secret Marriage,” premiered in 1792 to great acclaim. Leopold II, after hearing the three-hour performance, fed the musicians and then requested a repeat performance that same evening. Within two years, the opera gained international fame and was eventually translated into many languages. \n“You know, this used to be an extremely popular opera, but recently it seems to have fallen off of its pedestal,” Segal said. \nHe went on to explain the similarities between Cimarosa’s Overture and that of his contemporary, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. \n“You can hear Mozart’s ‘Marriage of Figaro’ in this overture,” he said.\nThe String Quartet in E Minor, by Verdi, was written for four string instruments: two violins, viola and cello. What the audience will hear today is an augmented version of the original; instead of one violist, there will be four, instead of one violinist playing the first violin part, there will be seven, and so on. \n“I think it was (the famous conductor Arturo) Toscanini who looked at this piece and arranged it for a string orchestra,” Segal said.\nThen, pointing to the still-empty stage of Auer Hall, he smiled, shook his head and said, “They are really doing a marvelous job with this piece.”\nLast on the program will be Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37, with In Kyung Hong – winner of the Jacobs School of Music Piano Concerto Competition – at the piano. The piece was first performed in 1803 in Vienna, with the composer himself at the piano. The score of the concerto, dedicated to Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, was published in 1804, but it was not until 1809 that Beethoven wrote out the cadenzas for this concerto. \nThe Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble of outstanding student musicians from around the globe, is the smallest of the music school’s five orchestras and, by virtue of that, also the most portable. As part of IU’s Moveable Feast of the Arts Series, the orchestra will take the program to the Ogle Center on the campus of IU Southeast and perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday. \nAccording to the school of music publicity office, this is the third year of the Moveable Feast of the Arts initiative, which is designed to showcase the University’s cultural resources to Hoosier communities and IU campuses across the state. The Moveable Feast of the Arts is an initiative of the IU President’s Office, managed by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and funded by the Lilly Endowment.\nTonight’s concert is free and open to the public. Friday’s concert at IU Southeast is free to all students under 18, as well as IU faculty, staff and alumni. General admission is $5. Tickets may be purchased through the Ogle Center box office or Ticketmaste