UW Symphony Orchestra to Present ‘Crouching Tiger’ Feb. 29

A Grammy- and Oscar-winning concerto. A symphony by the dean of African American composers. An overture by one of the greatest Italian opera composers.

That is what is in store when the University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra (UWSO) presents its “Crouching Tiger” concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 29, in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall.

Tickets are $14 for the public, $10 for senior citizens and $4 for students. A nominal processing fee will be charged for each ticket. To purchase tickets, visit the Performing Arts box office, call (307) 766-6666 or go online at www.tix.com/ticket-sales/uwyo/6984.

Cellist Beth Vanderborgh, a UW Department of Music professor, will play Tan Dun’s “Crouching Tiger Concerto” from the “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” film score that was recorded by Yo-Yo Ma. Rod Garnett, a UW professor emeritus of music, will return to Laramie to play the Asian flute parts.

“The music features an astonishing solo cello part, many ancient and traditional percussion instruments, and flute parts using exotic members of that woodwind family,” says Professor Michael Griffith, UW director of orchestral activities. “It won the 2001 Academy and Grammy awards for best film scores and will sound both unusual yet familiar at the same time.”

William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 2, “Song of a New Race,” ends a trilogy of works that depict Black experiences. The music, which depicts a vision of a free Black people in an integrated America, had its premiere in 1937, with Leopold Stokowski conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra.

While living in New York in the 1920s, Still was part of the Harlem Renaissance and was one of the first Black composers to have a symphony performed by a major symphony orchestra in 1935 with the New York Philharmonic.

The overture to Verdi’s opera “La Forza del Destino” will be the most traditional-sounding symphonic piece during the UWSO concert, Griffith says. Premiered in 1862, the overture is a “dramatic, intense and ultimately triumphant curtain-raiser.”

“Audiences should enjoy this concert for the guest musicians as much as for the music,” Griffith says.

Vanderborgh enjoys a varied career as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician and pedagogue. She is principal cellist of the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra; on the artist faculty of the Eastern Music Festival, with the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Orchestra; and is acting principal cello of the Pro Musica Colorado Chamber Orchestra.

She also performs regularly with the Colorado Chamber Players and the Colorado Symphony; is a founding member of the acclaimed Stanislas Sextet based in Nancy, France; and tours regularly with Musica Harmonia.

The Classical Voice of North Carolina described her playing as “Impeccable musicianship, rhythmic precision, technical expertise and expansive, passionate musicianship. Gorgeous music, exquisitely performed, and I do not believe I have overdone the superlatives.”

Her most recent CD, with the Stanislas Sextet, of Brahms and Dvorak sextets was recorded by Radio France and released in 2018 by the European label Forgotten Records.

The concert will be led by guest conductor David Leibowitz, music director of the award-winning New York Repertory Orchestra. For years, he was on the conducting staff of the Rome Festival Opera (Italy), leading opera, ballet and concert performances, and he was orchestra director of the Siena (Italy) Summer Music Festival.

In the New York City area, Leibowitz has conducted the Massapequa Philharmonic; Astoria Symphony; Manhattan Chamber Orchestra; Greenwich Village Orchestra; Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra; Centre Symphony Orchestra; New York Festival Singers; Litha Orchestra; and the Music at St. Paul’s Series at Columbia University. He also has worked with the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

A dedicated music educator, Leibowitz has conducted the Third Street Philharmonia at the Third Street Music School Settlement in New York City, and he was orchestra director at the City College of New York. In 2011, he was an award winner of the American Prize in Orchestral Conducting and the American Prize in Orchestral Programming.

The concert’s music calls for Asian flutes of various sizes, and Garnett’s fascination with world flutes will bring much of the music to life.

“His work with the traditional music ensembles Colcannon and Lights Along the Shore is fondly remembered by Laramie audiences, and we are indeed fortunate that he will return to Laramie for this concert,” Griffith says.

For more information, email Griffith at symph@uwyo.edu.