University News

Western Illinois Music Faculty Featured with Quincy Symphony Orchestra

September 28, 2005

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MACOMB, IL - - Quincy Symphony Orchestra’s (QSO) opening concert for the 2005-06 season will feature two Western Illinois University School of Music faculty members, as well as free admission to all University students and employees.

Western’s School of Music is participating in the college group ticketing plan with the Quincy Symphony Orchestra Association, which offers free admission to all QSO subscription concerts during the 2005-06 season, according to School of Music Director Bart Shanklin. Students and employees need to show a valid Western Illinois University ID for admission.

Western’s Bruce Briney will serve as guest conductor and Moisés Molina will be the featured cello soloist for “An Afternoon of Dvorak” Sunday, Oct. 16. The 3 p.m. concert will be held in the Quincy Junior High School Morrison Theatre at 14th and Maine streets. The QSO’s principal cellist is Roxy Fess of Macomb.

Briney is among five guest conductors who will lead the Quincy Symphony Orchestra concerts this season, since the death of QSO conductor Clyde Bassett in May.

The program will open with the contemporary Svoboda work “Overture for the Season,” followed by Dvorak’s “Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op. 104,” to be performed by Molina. The concert will conclude with Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88.”

“I’m excited about guest conducting this colorful program with the Quincy Symphony, and I look forward to accompanying Moisés Molina on his concerto,” said Briney.

A professor of trumpet, Briney directs Western’s Symphony Orchestra and has conducting contacts with the University’s Opera Theatre and Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Previously, as the music director of the Northwestern University resident Millar Brass Ensemble, Briney recorded and released five compact discs on the Crystal, Koss, Premiere and RMC record labels.

His solo compact disc “Time Passages – A Collection of 20th Century Music for Trumpet,” released in December 2001, was described as ". . . beautifully performed in every aspect from tone color to technique” by The Journal of the International Trumpet Guild. A member of Western’s faculty since 1993, Briney is the recipient of Western's 2001 Outstanding Teaching Award from the College of Fine Arts and Communication.

Molina has appeared as a soloist with orchestras throughout the United States and his native Honduras. He has also performed solo and chamber music recitals in the U.S., Europe and Central and South America. He is a member of Western’s Julstrom String Quartet and performs with his wife Andrea Molina, a pianist, in the Molina Duo. Molina has also served as a principal cellist for the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra and the Abilene Opera Orchestra. He has played with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and is a current member of the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra.

The Quincy Symphony Orchestra program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

The QSO season includes:
● Sunday, Nov. 20 at 3 p.m. – “Friends and Family Concert,” featuring selections from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” and Leroy Anderson’s “Trumpeter’s Lullaby.”
● Saturday, Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m. – “Christmas Joy Concert.”
● Sunday, Feb. 12 at 3 p.m. – Combined concert with QSO and the winners of the annual Young Artists Concerto Competition performing Nelson’s “Rocky Point Holiday” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade.”
● Saturday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m. – “Sounds of Spring Pops Concert.”
● Saturday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. – The Quincy Symphony Orchestra, joined by the Quincy Symphony Chorus and the Quincy Area Youth Chorus and Kinderchor, will perform Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” Kitty Karn, Western’s assistant professor of voice and musical theatre, will be the soprano soloist.

For more information, contact the symphony office, 217/222-2856.



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