The Greenville Symphony Orchestra will perform selections this weekend from the masters, including Mendelssohn and Sibelius, along with music by young female composer Clarice Assad.
According to a biography on her website, Assad is a Grammy-nominated composer with more than 70 pieces of music to her credit. The website noted that she has released seven solo albums, and her work has appeared on an additional 30 recordings. The orchestra will perform her 2009 piece titled “Suite for Lower Strings,” which she described as a five-movement fantasy on well-known themes by J.S. Bach.
“The work emphasizes the string section’s lower voices, such as the viola, cello and bass,” Assad said in program notes from the piece posted on her website. “Typically in baroque music, the melody was given to the higher instruments — but the suite, commissioned by the New Century Chamber Orchestra, was specifically tasked to showcase the often underused lower instruments. Each of the suite’s short movements presents Bach’s popular and recognizable melodies, often varying and combining them with elements from 20th-century styles.”
The Greenville Symphony Orchestra, which will be conducted by John Young Shik Concklin, will open with Assad’s “Suite for Low Strings,” according to PeaceCenter.org. The orchestra will also perform Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Sibelius’ “Symphony No. 3.”
The performances will be held at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 23, at the Peace Center, located at 300 South Main Street in Greenville.
Tickets start at $19 and go up to $78 each. Tickets can be purchased online on the Peace Center’s website or by calling the box office at 864-467-3000.
