FSU Community Orchestra to Perform Free Concert Nov. 7

The Fairmont State University Community Orchestra will present a free concert on Sunday, Nov. 7, featuring the music of Mozart, Lully, Faure and Beethoven.

The program, conducted by John Ashton, will be held at 7 p.m. in the Turley Center Ballroom on the main campus in Fairmont.

Sunday's concert will open with the brilliant overture to the opera "The marriage of Figaro" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Although the overture is one of Mozart's most performed works, the musical materials of the overture do not occur again in the opera with the exception of two brief phrases.

Two French composers occupy the center of the program, with 17th century composer Jean Baptiste Lully's Suite from the opera "Roland," a tale of medieval chivalry, followed by 19th to early 20th century Gabriel Faure' s Suite "Masques et Bergamasques," a work written in 1919 that referred back in time to the performances of commedia dell'arte troupes.

The final work on the program will be the second symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven, a work that was received by its first critics as bizarre, original and difficult. Today, however, it is often thought of as the last of Beethoven's symphonies strongly influenced by Haydn and Mozart. However it is described, the humor and vitality of the symphony is remarkable and obvious.

Parking for Sunday's concert is available on the top level of the campus parking garage. For more information, call (304) 367-4219.

Fairmont State University Community OrchestraJohn AshtonMusic