Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Grace Community Orchestra will begin its 13th season at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at Rodeheaver Auditorium.
Directed by Ardis R. Faber, associate professor of music at Grace College, the orchestra will perform Brahms' "Variations on A Theme by Haydn" and Franz Schubert's "Mass in G Major."
Dr. Peter Gano, Grace College music faculty, will give a preconcert lecture at 6:45 p.m. in the hall. The program is free and open to the public.
Both works have special significance as this year marks the 200th birthday of Schubert and the hundredth anniversary of Brahms' best known and popular orchestral work.
Written in 1873, the work was composed on a theme by Joseph Haydn titled "Chorale of Saint Anthony," which was originally written for wind band by the composer. Eight variations and a finale follow the opening theme that make this work an audience favorite.
The Schubert "Mass in G Major," featuring the 60-voice Grace Festival Chorus, is a beautiful setting of the Mass. Schubert wrote the Mass at the age of 18 in just six days. Its songlike character and straight-forward diction make the work popular with audiences everywhere.
Tammie Huntington, a Grace College graduate with a degree in music education, will be featured as soprano soloist in the Mass. Kent Currie, a junior music and communications major at Grace College, will be featured as bass soloist.
According to conductor Ardis Faber, "These two works really complement each other and provide the audience with a very diverse and contrasting concert. The Schubert work, with its smooth and continuously beautiful melodic line, is among the finest settings of the Mass in the 19th century, whereas the Brahms variations create a musical excitement second to none."
The Grace Community Orchestra, now beginning its 15th season, began as a small ensemble rehearsing in Grace College's Philathea Hall.
According to Donald Odgen, retired chairman of the college's music department, "It's amazing how our orchestra has grown and improved since its beginning. The orchestra's primary purpose, however, has always remained the same - to foster the arts in the greater Warsaw area by providing quality concerts with broad audience appeal - free and open to the public."
The orchestra's next performance will be at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 28 in Rodeheaver Auditorium. Featured on the program will be the winners of the orchestra's instrumental solo competition for college students.
