Clarion University Department of Visual and Performing Arts will present “Ballets and Dances,” a concert by the Symphony Orchestra, at 3 p.m. Dec. 7 in the auditorium of Marwick-Boyd Fine Arts Center. It is free and open to the public.
The concert is in memory of Toni Kelso, who gave extraordinary service to Clarion University during her 38-year career, specifically to the music department as an administrative assistant in the office of the dean of the former College of Arts and Sciences. Mrs. Kelso passed away Sept. 17.
"It is a great honor for the symphony orchestra to present this concert in memory of Toni Kelso," said Casey Teske, professor of music and Symphony Orchestra director. "Mrs. Kelso gave extraordinary service to the university for over 38 years and was a staunch advocate of the orchestra and music program. We celebrate her altruism and impact she had on the university, students and community. She is missed by all."
The concert, which celebrates composers who are considered masters of the ballet and
dance genres, opens with Brian Balmages' Summer Dances. The piece is dramatic and
stately, providing a great sense of rhythmic pulse and drama.
The concert continues with:
• Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms demonstrates the composer's affection to
Gypsy fiddlers. It is a setting of the melody Bartfai-Emlek ("Remembrance of Bartfa"),
attributed to the German-Hungarian bandmaster and composer of light music, Béla Kéler
(1820-1882).
• "Mazurka" from Tchaikovsky's famous Swan Lake was among the earliest ballet scores
to elevate the dance to the level of serious drama by incorporating methods of operatic
and symphonic design. The "Mazurka" appears in a party scene near the end of Act III.
• "Bacchanale" from Saint-Saëns Samson and Delilah is breathtakingly powerful. Early
in the opera the Bacchanale (which is really the ballet scene customary in French
grand opera) is a festival in tribute to the god Bacchus, patron of all things sensual.
• "A Dance of Clowns" from Mendelssohn's incidental music from Shakespeare's A Midsummer
Night's Dream is used as exit music just before the finale.
• The final piece is Symphonic Dances from West Side Story – "Mambo"– by Leonard Bernstein.
This was a competitive dance between the two games and is considered raw and violent.
Symphony Orchestra is comprised of students, faculty, staff and community members.