Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 16, 1990                   TAG: 9006160327
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Jeff DeBell
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RSO SEASON TO FOCUS ON LIVING COMPOSERS

Conductor Victoria Bond said the emphasis on living composers is a logical continuation of the past season, which stressed the work of composers whose work "shaped the 20th century musically."

"I hope it will be a yeasty ferment and that it will bring back the idea that music is alive and well, that music is a living art," the conductor said.

Season tickets are available for the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra's 1990-91 subscription season, which will include six Monday night concerts in the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium, and for other performances and concert series as well.

Ticket prices for the "Monday Night Classics" season range from $45 to $75, depending on the location of the seat. Most of the remaining tickets are for seats in the balcony.

One of the composers to be featured is James Sochinski, a trombonist with the orchestra. He has been commissioned for six fanfares, one of which will be performed at each of the Monday night concerts.

"Concertante," a work by Stephen Paulus, will be performed at the orchestra's opening concert on Sept. 17. Paulus is composer in residence with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

On Oct. 15, the orchestra will perform Libby Larsen's "What the Monster Saw." It is from Larsen's new opera, "Frankenstein."

Paulus and Larsen are expected to be in Roanoke for the performances of their music.

Other highlights of the Monday concert series include a performance of music from the Igor Stravinsky ballet, "Petroushka," with the Bennington Marionettes (Oct. 15); a performance of Mozart's "Requiem" with the Roanoke Valley Choral Society and guest soloists (Nov. 12); Mahler's Symphony No. 9 (March 18, 1991); and Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" with the choral society and the Roanoke College Children's Choir (May 6).

Music by Ravel, Sibelius, Debussy, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky will fill out the subscription concerts.

As in past seasons, each of the Monday concerts will be preceded by a lecture by Bond about the music to be performed and its composers. The lectures, titled "Illuminations," take place in the Jefferson Club the Wednesday before each concert. The series costs $20.

A new series of performances, called Artsounds, will take place at the openings of art exhibits in Roanoke College's Olin Hall Gallery. There will be four such concerts, each featuring selected members of the orchestra in chamber-sized ensembles.

The Artsounds series also will emphasize the work of living composers. They are orchestra members Adam Crane, Samuel Adler, Ellsworth Milburn and Judith Shatin.

Season tickets are $20 for The Artsounds series.

The Sunday With the Symphony series will offer three concerts in the auditorium of Cave Spring High School. Season tickets cost $24 and $30.

Highlights in 1990-91 will include solos by cellist Mary Hege Crane and bassist William C. Johnston of the orchestra, a reading by poet Nikki Giovanni and an appearance by bass Philip Bond of New York.

To inquire for tickets or other information about any of the series, call the symphony office at 343-9127.