Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra performs 'Latin Sensations'
Guitar solos, ensemble pieces, community participation and dance performances all will be packed into an evening concert Saturday, March 11, when the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra presents "Latin Sensations."
The concert at Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church is part of the orchestra's 56th season.
"We have a five-concert subscription series and a three-concert chamber series," said Cynthia Bergquist Krainc, the symphony's executive director. "We've got a lot of collaborations and other performers."
Saturday's program begins at 7 p.m. with "Danzon No. 2," a piece by Mexican composer Arturo Marquez and performed by the symphony under the direction of conductor Stephen Alltop.
Guitarist Colin Davin, who has performed at venues worldwide and is currently on the faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music, will team with the orchestra to perform Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concerto de Aranjuez for Guitar and Orchestra."
Davin will return later in the program to perform, with both the symphony and community guitarists, a rendition of "Malaguena" by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona.
The orchestra also will perform the Brazilian-influenced "La Boeuf Sur la Toit, Op. 59" by French composer Darius Milhaud and Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasileira No. 9," before launching into American composer George Gershwin's jazzy "Cuban Overture."
The Gershwin piece will be punctuated with a performance by the Elmhurst Dance Theatre, a student group from the DuPage Dance Academy, Krainc said.
The orchestra is a nonprofit organization that brings together professional, paid musicians with accomplished "professional-level" musicians, Krainc said.
"About 60 percent are paid and the rest are volunteer," she said.
A silent auction fundraiser to benefit the symphony's programs will be conducted throughout the evening.
"We do a lot of outreach," she said.
She cited the ESO's Stanger Young Artist Concerto Competition as an example. The annual contest gives music students the opportunity to perform with the orchestra.
"These are very talented young people who work very hard to participate in the competition," she said.
ESO musicians regularly visit area classrooms and participate in Elmhurst Park District's music programs.
Auction items range in value from about $30 to $300 and were donated by organizations including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago White Sox, Robert Campbell Portraiture and the Chicago Botanic Garden, Krainc said.
Saturday's concert will be preceded at 5:45 p.m. by a free discussion led by Ted Hatmaker titled "Behind the Music Stand." Hatmaker is an ESO board member and is on the faculty at Northern Illinois University.
Krainc said a second, family-friendly Latin music concert, also led by symphony music director Alltop, will be presented at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 12, at the Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church.
Titled "We've Got Rhythm," the concert will feature the orchestra playing many of the pieces featured at Saturday's concert and will include a performance by the Elmhurst Dance Theatre.
That show will be preceded by an instrument "petting zoo" sponsored by Luscome Music, she said.
Tickets for Sunday's concert are $9 for adults 16 and older and $6 for children.
If you go
The Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra will present two concerts at Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church, 149 W. Brush Hill Road, Elmhurst. For information, visit elmhurstsymphony.org.
'Latin Sensations' concert
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, March 11
Tickets: $32 for adults, $30 for seniors, $9 for students; $65 for families of two adults plus three children; $25 each for groups of 10 or more
'We've Got Rhythm' family concert
When: 3 p.m. Sunday, March 12
Tickets: $9 for adults, $6 for children