The Gustavus Symphony and Philharmonic Orchestras will present their fall concert in a joint performance on Friday, November 4, at 7:30 p.m. in Christ Chapel on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus. Conductor Warren Friesen leads the two student ensembles in this concert which is free and open to the public.
The thirty-member Gustavus Philharmonic Orchestra opens the evening’s performance with John Rutter’s Suite for Strings, in four movements. Rutter set four poems, A-Roving, I have a bonnet trimmed with blue, O waly waly, and Dashing away in this work for chamber string orchestra.
The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, following a very successful concert appearance at the Blue Earth Area High School Performing Arts Center, will follow with a concert of three works conducted by Warren Friesen. The symphony opens its half of the concert with Johannes Brahms’ Tragic Overture, Op. 81, followed by the Music for Orchestra by Vaclav Nelhybel. It concludes the evening’s performance with Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80.
Conductor Warren Friesen joined the Gustavus faculty in the fall of 2000 as conductor of the symphony orchestra and director of the college’s string program. Growth in the program led to the development of a second student orchestra, the Philharmonic, and a very successful chamber music program which includes an array of string quartets from the two orchestras. In addition to his work at the college, Friesen continues as artistic director of the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra and has held positions with the New York Harlem Opera Ensemble and the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra. He has earned a master’s of music in viola performance and is completing his doctoral studies at Ball State University.
Friday’s concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in Christ Chapel is free and open to the public.