The Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra will present its fourth concert of the 2014-2015 season with an appealing program featuring the world premiere of Bruce Reiprich’s Flowing Waters Caress Fallen Petal. Reiprich is a Flagstaff-based composer and professor of music theory and composition at Northern Arizona University.
Dr. Reiprich composed Flowing Waters Caress Fallen Petal for orchestra and piano on a request from Elizabeth Schulze, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Flagstaff Symphony. The piece is based on a piano solo of the same name composed for pianist Vicki Ray in 2010. Ray will also be the featured soloist with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. Reiprich states that his composition is written “with a 21st century language that is tonal, and sometimes atonal with lots of color, texture, and experimental sounds.”
“Premiering a new piece of music is the most exciting and vital work an orchestra can be involved with,” said Christopher Barton, Executive Director of the Flagstaff Symphony. “Our audience will be the first to hear Bruce’s music realized and the first people who can carry it with them into the future.” Speaking about his hopes for the concert experience, Reiprich said “I encourage the audience to listen in a creative way and to find worthwhile adventure in listening and being open to new sounds.”
The opening piece on program is William Grant Still’s Festive Overture, a patriotic and uplifting work composed in 1944. Still is considered “The Dean” of African-American composers and his library and archives are housed in Flagstaff.
Completing the program will be Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the Pastorale Symphony. Composed and premiered in tandem with his iconic Fifth Symphony, Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony has been described as “radical” and a work the pushed through the contemporary boundaries of symphonic form and performance. Beethoven wrote the Pastorale with explicit programmatic notes that describe a sentimental and joyful day in the Viennese countryside.
The concert, titled Breaking Boundaries, will take place at Ardrey Memorial Auditorium on Friday, January 23 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available online through the NAU Central Ticket Office or by calling 928-523-5661. This program is the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra’s annual Percival Lowell Concert and is sponsored by Michael and Karen Kitt.
