Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra season opens Sept. 16
The Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra kicks off its 63rd concert season with its pops concert featuring musical selections from the cinema.
Symphony Music Director and Conductor Lucia Matos, invites the public to join the symphony orchestra for a performance at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16, at LaSalle-Peru High School Auditorium.
The concert is sponsored by IV Cellular and concert season sponsor Central Radio Group. The pops concert will feature musical selections from the Cinema such as “Pink Panther” by Mancini/C. Chase; “Mamma Mia” by Roy Phillippe; “The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring,” Symphonic Suite by Howard Shore/John Whitney; “The Muppet Medley” by Bruce Chase, and other movie selections. A surprise guest conductor will lead the orchestra on one selection.
Liam Teague, steelpan, is the concerts’ featured soloist. Teague will perform “Winter” from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi; Triplets, a fox trot arranged for Teague by Ben Wahlund; Pan in A Minor (Calypso) by Aldwyn Roberts; and the Brazilian “Tico-Tico no Fuba.”
Hailed as the “Paganini of the Steelpan,” Teague currently serves as the head of Steelpan Studies and is an associate professor of music at Northern Illinois University.
Along with Clifford Alexis, he co-directs the Northern Illinois University Steelband.
He has also performed with many ensembles, including the Taiwan National Symphony, Czech National Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Panama National Symphony, Dartmouth Wind Ensemble, University of Wisconsin-Madison Marching Band, Nexus, TCL Group Skiffle Bunch Steel Orchestra, BPtt Renegades Steelband and Starlift Steel Orchestra.
Teague’s commitment to demonstrating the great musical possibilities of the Steelpan has taken him to Europe, Asia, North and Central America, Australia, and the Caribbean.
Some of these performances include opening for the MC Hammer tour of Trinidad and Tobago; stints at the St. Lucia, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago Jazz Festivals; and appearances at the Cool Drummings Percussion Festival in Toronto, Canada. He teaches and performs at the Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Door County, Wisconsin; and has also presented recitals and clinics at Interlochen Center for the Art. He is currently the musical arranger for the Starlift Steel Orchestra, one of the most celebrated steelbands in the world.
Admission to the concert is by season pass or individual tickets. Season tickets and individual tickets may be purchased on the IVSO website. www.ivso.org. A season ticket (membership) includes admission to all five concerts with a 17 percent discount. Adult and family memberships are available.
If you can’t attend all the concerts, you can still redeem the full value of your membership by inviting a friend to join you at one of the concerts that you will be able to attend, or by giving the ticket to a friend to be used in your absence. Tickets are also available at the door.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for students (kindergarten-college with ID). There is no reserved seating. LaSalle-Peru High School is handicapped accessible.
For more information about the Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra, go to www.ivso.org. The concert is sponsored in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.