Name: American Fanfare
Start: 2024-09-17T19:30:00
Location: Callaway Auditorium

Jonathan Pilkington

LaGrange Symphony Orchestra

The grand opening of the season presents breathtaking works by some of the great American composers of the last century. Following our rousing National Anthem, we continue with John William’s electrifying Olympic Fanfare and Theme, composed for the opening of 1984 Olympic games held in Los Angeles Olympics. It has all the brilliance of his well-known film scores and immediately establishes the uniquely American flavor of our program. Composer Joseph Wood had a major career, teaching at Oberlin from 1950 to 1985, following musical training at Juilliard, service in the U.S. Army, and a Master’s degree from Columbia. He wrote many solo works, numerous chamber music pieces, and four symphonies, and his music has been performed around the world. It is a profound pleasure to share his much-lauded Poem for Orchestra from 1950. Of particular note for us is that his daughter is long-time LSO concertmaster, Lorna Wood, who retired at the end of last season! The two other major composers on the program were direct contemporaries of Joseph Wood, and we are delighted to present Samuel Barber’s beautiful Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with guest artist, tenor Jonathan Pilkington, and Howard Hanson’s stunning Symphony No. 2, the “Romantic”.