Contact:
Lois Robinson, Executive Director
(318) 222-7496
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SHREVEPORT SYMPHONY PRESENTS FREE FAMILY CONCERT
ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 29 AT RIVERVIEW THEATER
Discovery Concerts for 4th and 5th grade students to be held on January 26 & 27
JANUARY 23, 2023, SHREVEPORT, LA - On Sunday, January 29, the Shreveport Symphony (SSO) presents a free family concert at RiverView Theater. The theme of the concert is "Musical Storytelling," and features a performance of Kermit Poling’s original score to William Joyce’s book The Leaf Man and the Brave Good Bugs.
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SSO Free Family Concert
Sunday, January 29, 2023—3 PM
RiverView Theater
Michael Butterman, conductor
Kermit Poling, conductor and composer
Angelique Feaster Evans, narrator
Jazziraé Robinson and Carson Alvarez, vocalists
Program:
MOZART Symphony No. 35, “Haffner," Mvt. 4 - Presto
RAVEL Mother Goose Suite
(Five Pieces for Children)
I. Pavane of Sleeping Beauty
II. Little Tom Thumb
III. Empress of the Pagodas
IV. Conversations of Beauty and the Beast
V. The Fairy Garden
Artwork and Animations by Tim Scott
KERMIT POLING The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs Suite
Original Book and Illustrations by William Joyce
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SSO Discovery Series
The SSO Discovery Series is an area-wide educational program serving 4th and 5th grade students (others may certainly attend) throughout Caddo and Bossier Parishes. Students attend Discovery Concerts at the Riverview Theater for a program specifically designed to teach one or more aspects of music.
The 2023 theme of the Discovery Series is Musical Storytelling. Concert repertoire will highlight the new score by Kermit Poling for large orchestra Bill Joyce’s “The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs,” as well as more hits from the orchestra, and a performance by the charismatic and virtuosic double bass soloist Xavier Foley. Winner of a prestigious 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Foley was recently recognized on New York WQXR’s “19 for 19” Artists to Watch list, and featured on PBS Thirteen’s NYC-ARTs.
This project is supported by a grant from the Community Foundation of North Louisiana and funding from Caddo Parish Schools, so the Discovery Concerts are free of charge to all public school students, and a suggested donation of $5 per person for private and homeschool groups. More info at https://shreveportsymphony.com/site/education/2023-discoveryconcert/.
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About Kermit Poling
Currently leading his 28th season as Music Director of the South Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, his eighth season as Music Director of the Marshall Symphony, and in his 38th season with the Shreveport Symphony, Kermit Poling is consistently hailed as an inspiring, passionate presence in American music. Poling conducts internationally,
while his compositions are also performed throughout the world. Most recently, he has been a frequent guest conductor with Orchestra Indiana and the Monroe Symphony Orchestra. Ballet companies throughout the United States, including Ballet Des Moines, the University of Hartford, Ballet Oklahoma, and The Pennsylvania Ballet continue to perform his works. January 2023 includes the premiere of a new guitar concerto featuring Lily Afshar, while a large work for chorus and orchestra will be premiered by the Shreveport Summer Music Festival in October 2023. He is the winner of the Silver Medal from the 2019 International Global Music Awards, among many other awards.
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About Xavier Foley
Xavier Foley is known for communicating his virtuosity and passion for music on the double bass, which is rarely presented as a solo instrument. Foley is a first prize winner of the 2016 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, winner of the 2014 Sphinx Competition and a 2018 Recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant. He has performed recitals at Shriver Hall, Rockport Music, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, National Gallery of Art, and the Harriman-Jewell Series. An avid chamber musician, he has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Marlboro Music Festival, Tippet Rise Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, and Skaneateles Festival.
As a composer, Foley’s For Justice and Peace was premiered by the Sphinx Organization at Carnegie Hall in October 2019 and co-commissioned by both organizations. It has since been performed by such orchestras as the Atlanta Symphony, New West Symphony, Oregon Symphony and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. His bass concerto, Soul Bass, commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony, was premiered by the orchestra this past March and will be performed again this season with the Baltimore Symphony under their New Music Director Jonathon Heyward.
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About the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra
Since its founding in 1948, the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra (SSO) has become Louisiana's oldest continually operating professional orchestra and one of the most respected regional orchestras in the United States. The SSO's mission is: To Embrace - to embrace the community we serve and to be embraced by the same community; to broaden the level of supporters and their involvement with the orchestra; to work across the region with various arts organizations through cooperation and partnerships. To Enlighten - to educate; to enlighten the senses beyond the norm. To Experience - to provide the unique aesthetic experiences of live orchestral music; to give depth and enriching life; to connect people through music; to foster cultural diversity. To Excel - to foster artistic, organizational, and financial excellence. shreveportsymphony.com
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