Musical Valentines
Post Published On:Arts for the Community at Thomas University (ACTU) presents a Musical Valentines concert featuring Beethoven’s Revenge string ensemble on Sunday, February 11 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church at 216 W Remington Ave. in Thomasville, Georgia.
Beethoven’s Revenge is a Tallahassee-based string ensemble featuring Michael Mascagni violin, and Ed Lyon on violin and voice, Jon Ahlquist on violin and viola, Vicki Pharis on viola, Erin Platt on cello, and Joanna Sobkowska on piano.
“This short concert will be a great prelude to the Super Bowl and a way to celebrate love with beloved selections of the performers and others focused on love” stated series coordinator and Professor of Music Dr. Karl Barton.
The program will include works by Edward Elgar, Alexander Bordin, and Mozart, and selections from Kismet and Phantom of the Opera. Also on the program will be some timely programming for Black History Month with the Quintet in A Minor for Strings and Piano by noted African-American composer and pianist, Florence Price.
Composed in 1936, her quintet for string quartet and piano showcases her skill as a pianist. The ensemble will be omitting movement 1, which is longer than movements 2-4 combined. Movement 3 (“Juba”) is built on African-American themes, while movements 2 and 4 are more European.
Florence Beatrice Price (née Smith; 1887–1953) was an American classical composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, she graduated from high school as valedictorian at age 14 and studied at the New England Conservatory of Music. She married Thomas Price in 1912, and they moved to Chicago in 1927, where she worked until her death in 1953.
Price is the first African-American woman to be a symphonic composer and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra. She composed nearly 400 works: four symphonies, four concertos, as well as choral works, art songs, chamber music, and music for solo instruments.
This concert is free and open to the public and will begin at 4 p.m. February 11.
For more information about this and other ACTU events, visit www.facebookcom/actu31792 or zelonghuan.volamdolong.com/actu, call (229) 227-6964 or email actu@volamdolong.com.
