BOONE—A performance of celebration and remembrance will be presented by the Appalachian Symphony Orchestra Nov. 20. Cornelia Laemmili Orth conducts the symphony in the 8 p.m. performance in Broyhill Music Center’s Rosen Concert Hall. Admission is free.

Guest musicians will be saxophonist Scott Kallestad and pianist Bair Shagdaron, both from the Hayes School of Music faculty.

The program opens with Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” commissioned during World War II. Copeland had considered naming the piece “Fanfare for the Spirit of Democracy,” “Fanfare for a Solemn Ceremony” and “Fanfare for the Day of Victory,” among other possible titles. He ultimately chose “Fanfare for the Common Man” as the composition’s title because, “It was the common man, after all, who was doing all the dirty work in the war and the army,” he explained and, “he deserved a fanfare.”

The contemporary compositions, “Four Pictures from New York” written by Italian composer Roberto Molinelli in 2001 will feature Kallestad and Shagdaron. The four movement work, with the titles “Dreamy Dawn,” “Tango Club,” “Sentimental Evening” and “Broadway Night” conjures “images of the most famous and most universal metropolis of the world…inspired by the Big Apple, as it seems to the eyes of a European in love with America and its music and culture,” according to the composer.

The symphony’s performance concludes with Antonin Dvořák’s “Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95” commonly called “From the New World Symphony.” Dvořák was inspired by American music, including folksongs and spirituals when he wrote the symphony. At the time he remarked that the title reflected his “impressions and greetings from the New World” while living in the United States in the 1890s.

Completed in spring 1892, the symphony was first performed by the New York Philharmonic later that year. At the time of its first public performance, a New York Evening Post critic wrote it was “the greatest symphonic work ever composed in this country.” It remains the most popular of the composer’s nine symphonies. The symphony is known by audiences for the famous melody known as “Going Home,” which is introduced by the English horn.

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, affordable education for all. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.

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