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

DATE: FRIDAY, November 11, 1994                   TAG: 9501110002
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

'COAL' ORATORIO PREMIERES SATURDAY

Composer Judith Shatin's "Coal," a folk oratorio based on the lore and history of coal mining in West Virginia, premieres this weekend at Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, W.Va.

Scored for chorus, Appalachian instruments and electronics, the 90-minute piece is based on Shatin's travels to remote coal towns, study at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beckley and interviews with miners and their families. The composition includes twangy-plucky notes from a banjo and the synthesized clank of a miner's pickaxe and crumble of falling rocks.

Shatin, professor of music at the University of Virginia, is director of the university's Virginia Center for Computer Music.

The oratorio will be performed Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. For more information, call (804) 924-6857.

by CNB