WVSO Presents 'Romantic Masterpieces'

The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra will perform "Romantic Masterpieces" with Grant Cooper, conductor, and Jolyon Pegis, cello soloist, on Friday, Sept. 28, at 7:30 p.m. at Fairmont State University's Colebank Hall.

The program will include Richard Wagner's "Lohengrin: Prelude to Act III;" Antonin Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B Minor; and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2. For tickets to the concert, call the Box Office at (304) 367-4240.

This program is presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.

The FSU student chapter of the Music Educators National Conference will hold a spaghetti dinner at the Wesley Foundation on Locust Avenue on Friday, Sept. 28. from 6-7 p.m. The dinner is scheduled in coordination with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra concert in Colebank Hall gym at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28.

Musical entertainment will be provided during dinner by music education majors and faculty. Admission to the dinner is by donation at the door. Funds raised will be used to help music education students attend professional music teaching conferences and workshops.

Cellist Jolyon Pegis was born in Rochester, N.Y. He attended Indiana University and the University of Hartford, studying with Gary Hoffman and David Wells. Pegis is a winner of the Artists International Award in New York City.

Pegis has appeared as soloist with the Kingsport, Chautauqua, San Antonio, Virginia, Maui and Dallas symphony orchestras. He made his New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall in 1990 and has also been a regular performer on the Federal Hall Concert Series, Saint Paul Festival of the Arts and at Cami Hall. As a performer of new music, Pegis has commissioned and premiered several works and has worked with such composers as Gunther Schuller, Lukas Foss and Don Freund. He is an advocate of the music of the late Eric Heckard and has premiered a number of his works including his concerto for Cello and Chamber Orchestra.

Pegis has served on the faculties of Atlantic Union College, the Hartt School of Music and the D'Angelo School of Music at Mercyhurst College. He was a member of the Arcadia Trio in conjunction with being a resident artist at the Yellow Barn Music Festival. From 1993-1995 he was the Music Director of the Jamestown Youth Orchestra. Since 1993 he has served as Assistant Principal Cellist of the Chautauqua Symphony and in 1995 joined the San Antonio Symphony as Principal Cello. He was a resident artist at both the Roycroft Chamber Music Festival in Buffalo and the Anchorage Festival of the Arts. He is currently a member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as well as being a member of the contemporary ensemble "Voices of Change."