West Virginia Selected as 20^th State to host America’s Orchestra – The National Symphony Orchestra – Arriving in Huntington on Saturday, April 10^th for a full day of activities and events

The Marshall Artists Series and the West Virginia Division of Culture and History present the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts at events throughout the day onSaturday, April 10^th. There will be a variety of events featuring members of the NSO, culminating in a performance at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center.  Events include a free family fun day at Huntington’s Barnett Center, music clinics and master classes featuring Marshall University music students and faculty, as well as an Arts Education Advocacy Meeting featuring Rita Shapiro, NSO Executive Director.

This visit is part of the American Residency project. In December 2009, West Virginia was chosen as the twentieth state to host the National Symphony Orchestra for the American Residency Program.  Since 1992, the symphony has accepted an invitation every year from one state or region to offer opportunities such as sharing elements of classical music, exploring diverse musical influences and giving the area a musical voice through training, career development and commissions.

Because of the generous support of many organizations – principally the Kennedy Center and the United States Department of Education – all proceeds from any ticket sales resulting from these events remain within the state to support local arts organizations.

“Hosting the National Symphony for its American Residency program is an honor for West Virginia,” said WV Governor Joe Manchin.  “We are so proud of our state’s musical heritage and an opportunity like this one to enhance concert experiences and give our students additional musical education will reinforce the importance of music and the arts in our state.”

To help foster our musical heritage, The Marshall Artists Series is initiating a used instrument donation drive, called The Music Box project.   We are asking community members to donate their used musical instruments to be recycled and used for children in the area who are interested in learning to play a musical instrument, but may be unable to afford one. Instrument donations are tax-deductible, and will promote music’s future in Huntington and will bring music to our neighborhoods.

The benefits of the 2010 American Residency do not end when the National Symphony Orchestra leaves West Virginia on April 13^th.  Two students from West Virginia have been chosen to receive scholarships to the 2010 Kennedy Center/NSO National Trustees Summer Music Institute.  Also, a West Virginia music teacher has been selected for an individually designed program to further the teacher’s professional development in Washington D.C.  Additionally a West Virginia composer will be selected to create a chamber music work to be premiered at the Kennedy Center.  The deadline to apply is March 31^st.

Officially founded in 1931, the National Symphony Orchestra has been committed to both artistic excellence and music education throughout its history.  In 1986, the National Symphony became the artistic affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the nation’s center for the performing arts, where it has presented a 52-week season of approximately 175 concerts each year.  These include classical subscription series, pops concerts, and one of the country’s most extensive educational programs.

Saturday, April 10^th Schedule of Events

• Huntington’s Barnett Center will open its doors and back patio from 12 p.m. – 3 p.m.  to host a Neighborhood Super-Duper Outing at their office located on 10^th Avenue and Hal Greer Boulevard (formerly the Barnett Child Care Center).  This event is free and open to the public and will feature music, food, games and prizes. Gino’s Pizza will supply free pizza, Pepsi will supply free soft drinks and The Salvation Army Canteen will be on hand to offer hot dogs and other refreshments.  String players from The NSO will be on hand to meet and greet with the community. In addition, the quartet will perform for the crowd. MU music students will host various music stations where guests can play instruments in a “musical petting zoo.”  In case of rain, this event will be held at the Douglas Center (Old Douglas High School) on 10^th Avenue.
• The KidsArt program at the Huntington Museum of Art will host a violinist from the NSO from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. immersing the children in visual art, music and dance.  This event is free and open to the public.
• The Marshall University Department of Music will host NSO members for a clinic and music master classes featuring Marshall University music students. A NSO clinician will speak to the group about intonation and sound production.  A master class will follow with 2-3 students performing for the group and the clinician will offer comments about their playing.   The clinics and music master classes will be held in Smith Music Hall from 3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m.  Room assignments will be posted.
• At the request of The Woman’s Club of Huntington, Rita Shapiro, NSO Executive Director and Emil De Cou, the Orchestra’s associate conductor will be the featured speakers at an Arts Education Advocacy Discussion to be held at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center on Saturday, April 10^th at 5 p.m.  There is no charge to attend this event. The goal of the discussion is to gather in strength, receive tools and ideas to provide a unified front requesting more participation   and funding for the arts.
• The day culminates with a full orchestral performance at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center, at 8 p.m.  Principal Conductor Iván Fischer will lead this ensemble of talented musicians. The evening’s program will include Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 (Prague) and Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from “On the Town.”

Program Notes for the Evening Performance

Leonard Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from On the Town - Leonard Bernstein composed the piece in 1944.   The Broadway show On the Town marked Bernstein’s initial formal collaboration with his dear friends Betty Comden and Adolph Green. On the Town premiered at New York’s Adelphi Theater on December 28, 1944, and ran for 463 performances.  For Bernstein, On the Town was “a happy and moving show about wartime, in the lightest possible vein, but with a most serious esthetic means.” Comden and Green felt the show reflected the “poignancy of young people trying to cram a lifetime of experience into a day.” The score calls for flute, piccolo, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, alto saxophone, timpani, percussion, piano, and strings.

Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 (Prague) – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed the score of this three movement symphony in Vienna on December 6, 1786, and he conducted the first performance on January 19, 1787, in Prague. Stanley Chapple conducted the National Symphony Orchestra’s first performance of this work, on June 21, 1944; Leonard Slatkin conducted the most recent ones, on September 26-28, 2002.   The score calls for flutes, oboes, bassoons, horns and trumpets in pairs, with timpani and strings.

Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 – The Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88, B. 163, was composed and orchestrated by Antonín Dvořák within the two-and-a-half-month period from August 26 to November 8 1889 in Vysoká u Příbrami,Bohemia. The score was dedicated: “To the Bohemian Academy of Emperor Franz Joseph for the Encouragement of Arts and Literature, in thanks for my election.” Dvořák conducted the premiere in Prague on February 2, 1890. The score calls for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani and strings.

Tickets for the evening concert are on sale now at the Marshall Artists Series box office located in the Joan C. Edwards Performing Arts Center box office and all Ticketmaster locations, order online at ticketmaster.com or call 304-696-6656. Tickets prices are $35, $25 and $10. There are no tickets needed for the day events prior to the evening performance.  For more information please contact the Marshall Artists Series at 304-696-3326.

The West Virginia Residency is sponsored by The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Chamber music concerts and outreach are supported in part by generous contributions to the Kennedy Center Abe Fortas Memorial Fund for Chamber Music and by a major gift to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas.

The National Symphony Orchestra is sponsored by West Virginia Culture and History, the West Virginia Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, WSAZ, WKEE, WTCR, Don & Sandy Hatfield and the Marshall Artists Series.