Citizens For A Better Norwood

Monday, October 26, 2009

Xavier University Fall Music Festival

Xavier University's Department of Music will host its Fall Music Festival from October 28 – 30. On Wednesday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m., the Festival opens with a the North American premier of Miguel Roig-Francoli's "Missa Pro Pace" performed by the Edgecliff Vocal Ensemble and a string ensemble. After a brief intermission, the Concert Choir, the new Xavier Alumni Choir and a professional orchestra will perform Mozart's "Requiem." Tickets are $5 with a student ID and $10 for all others.

On Thursday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m., the Xavier Symphonic Winds and Chamber Orchestra will perform at the Gallagher Student Center. Both ensembles have experienced rapid growth over the past year and professors Westgate and Heuser have raised the level of music-making dramatically. The Chamber Orchestra will be joined by Xavier faculty Rebecca Andres on flute and Jackie Davis on harp in a performance of Howard Hanson's exotic "Serenade for Flute, Harp and String Orchestra." Memorable music by Mozart will be featured alongside the "Capriol Suite for String Orchestra" by Peter Warlock. The Symphonic Winds take the stage for the second half with pieces by notable American composers such as Ron Nelson, Eric Whitacre, Stephen Bryant, Vincent Persichetti, and a few other surprises. A tour-de-force arrangement of Leonard Bernstein's "Symphonic Dances from West Side Story" and John Philip Sousa's most famous march, "Stars and Stripes Forever," will close the program. Tickets are $2 with a student ID and $5 for all others.

On Friday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m., The Xavier University Men's and Women's Choruses are joined by a guest choir from Sycamore High School. The performance will take place in Bellarmine Chapel. The choirs will combine at the end for a performance of Donald Busarow's arrangement of "Down by the River to Pray." Tickets are $2 with a student ID and $5 for all others.

Also on Friday, October 30 at 7:30 p.m., The Xavier University Jazz will transform the Gallagher Center Atrium into a Jazz Club. Instead of neat rows of chairs, fans will be seated at tables and can bring. Listeners can imagine they are listening to Charlie Parker at Birdland, Dizzy Gillespie at the Blue Note, or even B.B. King at The Palladium. This concert is free and open to the public.