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Bloomington Symphony Orchestra Concert On March 11 Showcases Stellar Talent

Last updated on Thursday, February 22, 2018

(BLOOMINGTON) - Bloomington Symphony Orchestra Concert on March 11 will showcase stellar talent.

You're at a concert. A shabbily-dressed man with frizzy hair leaps around the stage, waving his arms and shouting. Nobody knows what he's going to do next, but that doesn't matter, because his music is like nothing you've ever heard before.

Who is this guy, a rock star? In a way, he was. You just need to turn the clock back 200 years, because we're actually talking about Beethoven conducting the premiere of his Seventh Symphony in December, 1813. One of the orchestra's violinists complained about Beethoven's bizarre conducting style - "He rose and jumped in the air. Sometimes he shouted."

Beethoven himself called this symphony "one of the happiest products of my poor talents," and he wasn't alone in that feeling. That first audience particularly loved the second movement, forcing the orchestra to repeat it before allowing them to continue with the rest of the piece.

Artistic Director Alejandro Gómez Guillén and the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra will be performing Beethoven's beloved Seventh Symphony at 6 pm on Sunday, March 11 th at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, in a program entitled Epic - Motion and Grandeur.

The concert will also feature the US premiere of a piece by another "rock star," twenty-something British composer Dani Howard. Dani is enthusiastic about her music being introduced to audiences in the US - "Having a US premiere is a very big deal, as suddenly it means a whole other world of people are listening. My main mission is to make new music accessible to wider audiences, and this is an amazing step forward in that direction."

Another rising star - this one from the world of opera - will be joining the BSO that evening to perform music of De Falla, Grieg, and Fauré. According to Broadway World, Cecilia Duarte's "gorgeous Mezzo- soprano fills the auditorium with warmth and light every time she opens her mouth to sing."

There promises to be a lot of star power onstage at the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra's March concert. And while Beethoven won't be there in person, you can bet he'll be there in spirit, hopping around, shouting, waving his arms, and jumping for joy.

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