UW Offers Free Chamber Orchestra Concert

The University of Wyoming Chamber Orchestra performs Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 6” and other works Thursday, Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m. during a free concert in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall.

The program’s first half will feature two concertos by Bach. “The Brandenburg Concerto No. 6,” the third of a set of six masterpieces composed in 1721, features two viola solos, an instrument beloved and played by Bach. The other concerto was originally written for three violins, and that version will be performed at Thursday’s concert. Bach later rewrote it for three solo harpsichords, the version that is most frequently performed.

Soloists for the Bach concertos will be violist Clark Potter and violinist David Neely, guest artists from the School of Music at the University of Nebraska. They will be joined by UW viola professor James Przygocki and violin professors John Fadial and Sherry Sinift.

The concert’s second half will be devoted to the string orchestra music of one of the 20th century’s most important composers, Benjamin Britten, and his teacher, Frank Bridge. Bridge’s “Two English Folk Songs” was originally written for string quartet and later transcribed for string orchestra. His “Simple Symphony” is anything but simple, says director Przygocki. 

“Consisting of four movements and based on themes that Britten wrote during childhood, the piece was first performed in 1934 and was dedicated to Britten’s childhood viola teacher,” he says.

The UW Chamber Orchestra is a select group of 25 string players. For more information, visit the website at www.uwyo.edu/music/ensembles/chamber_orchestra.html.