Georgia College hosts Symphony Orchestra

Music and movie lovers received quite a treat at Russell Auditorium on April 1, as the Macon Symphony Orchestra performed music from some of Hollywood’s most memorable films in its Macon Symphony Orchestra Goes to the Movies concert.

The concert was the group’s annual performance in Milledgeville and is jointly sponsored by Georgia College and Georgia Military College.  The two schools alternate hosting the concert each year.

John Simons, a music professor and an associate dean and chair of music ministry at the School of Church Music at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary led the orchestra’s performance.

“I hope you’ve found a tune that you can enjoy and take with you into the weekend and coming week,” Simons told the audience.

“These kind of events highlight our mission, not only to educate students, but also the audience. Music is for everyone. For those performers and music majors, we hope they will be parts of groups such as this in the future.”

Victor Vallo, Chair of the Department of Music

Simons was joined by Georgia College Department of Music Chair Victor Vallo and Amy Wilson, conductor of the Mercer and Macon Symphony Youth Orchestras in conducting the concert.

“It was a very elegant and musical evening. The audience sounded like they were very reminiscent of some of their favorite music from movies,” Vallo said. “The concert had enough of an eclectic collection of music and enough variety to please everybody. Everyone was able to find at least one piece of music from movies that has touched our lives.”

The concert began with the theme from “How the West Was Won,” which was then followed by “Tara’s Theme” from “Gone with the Wind” and the theme suite from “Forrest Gump.”

Next, the orchestra performed a tribute performance to Christopher Reeve, the former and deceased “Superman” actor with music from the television show and movies. It was followed by a lengthy performance of music from the blockbuster movie “Titanic.”

Vallo then led the orchestra in a performance of music from “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” He also conducted “The General’s Suite,” music from famous war movies “MacArthur” and “Patton.”

Georgia College professor of music Wendy Mullen, a member of the orchestra, performed a violin solo on “Theme from Schindler’s List” along with Jason Economides.

Wilson then conducted the stirring “Adagio for Strings,” the theme from Academy Award winning movie “Platoon.” The orchestra followed with performances of “Flight of the Valkyries” from “Apocalypse Now” and then the jazzy “Pink Panther” theme.

The orchestra closed its performance with music from “Star Trek” with “Star Trek Through the Years.”

“We’ve played all of the war music, and you’ve heard the craziness and absurdity of war,” Simons told the audience. “Now we want to close with music from an idea of an advanced society of mankind which seeks a good way of life throughout space.”

The music had a narrated voiceover by local pastor John Hodges.

Vallo said that hosting groups such as the Macon Symphony Orchestra benefits the Department of Music and the university.

“These kind of events highlight our mission, not only to educate students, but also the audience. Music is for everyone,” Vallo said. “For those performers and music majors, we hope they will be parts of groups such as this in the future.

Posted by Scotty Thompson on Apr 7 2011. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.