'America' is star of the show for college and community symphony

By: Betsy Woodruff

Posted: 4/23/09

The Hillsdale College and Community Symphony Orchestra spring concert will have an American theme, featuring Aaron Copeland's "Lincoln Portrait," selections from the work of Samuel Barber and a musical rendition of "Casey at the Bat." Both pieces will have a spoken element, which Pat Sajak, of "Wheel of Fortune" fame, will narrate.

The coincidence of the pieces' theme and the dedication of a statue of Abraham Lincoln on the same weekend pleased Associate Professor of Music James Holleman, he said, though he did not plan for it.

Sajak will also conduct "The Stars and Stripes," one of a repertoire of pieces he conducts.

Two winners of the concerto competition, junior Jessica Bastien and sophomore Josh Cook, will also perform on piano and violin, respectively. Bastien will perform a movement from Rachmaninoff's lesser-known "Piano Concerto No. 1" and Cook will perform a movement from Mendelssohn's "Violin Concerto in E minor."

Holleman thinks audiences will enjoy the concert.

"Everything in this concert is seven to eight minutes, but there are seven pieces," he said. "It should be very ADD-friendly."

Holleman also believes Sajak's presence will inspire the orchestra to perform particularly well.

"The moment he shows up on stage, they're going to play their most focused, highest level," he said.

Senior Sarah Paye, the concert mistress, thinks the pieces will be challenging.

"Some of the music is harder than what we're used to doing," she said. "One of the Barber pieces in particular is pretty difficult."

The pieces' modernity presents the orchestra with a unique challenge, she said.

"Twentieth-century music just doesn't work the same way as older music that we're used to performing," she said, noting its unusual rhythm and tonality. "It doesn't build audience expectations the way older music would."