Amherst Symphony Orchestra is "Surrounded by Students"
Third performance to be held March 4
by JILL SCHMELZER Reporter

The third installment of the 2006-07 Amherst Symphony Orchestra concert series will be dedicated to the students in and around the area.

The event on Sunday, March 4 will begin at 3:15 p.m., with the third annual "petting zoo" from McClellan Music House. Children of all ages can come and try out new instruments.

The Children's Concert will begin at 4:30 p.m. and will tell the story of "The Little Engine That Could."

The tale will be brought to life through music and verse by the orchestra and narrated by Peter Hall of WNED radio.

Amherst Central High School freshman Austin Oprean will accompany the orchestra in "Marceau Symphonique."

The performance will demonstrate the theme of the evening, "Surrounded by Students." Oprean will show that "a young person can reach great musical heights at a young age if they are dedicated and work diligently," said conductor Steve Thomas.

Oprean currently holds first chair trombone in the high school Wind Ensemble and second chair in the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra. He is also a member of the Canisius College Jazz Band and Wind Ensemble and participates in Amherst High School's Jazz Band. For the past three years, he has been selected as first chair in both the Erie County Music Educators Association and the New York State School Music Association evaluation festivals.

Austin Oprean t ro m b o n e

As the Amherst Symphony plays the grand finale, the youth will be invited on stage to experience what it is like to be "inside" the orchestra.

The preconcert will follow at 6:15 p.m., with the Amherst High School Symphony Strings performing works by Aaron Copland, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Johann Pachelbel.

The night's last and featured performance will be the main concert at 7 p.m.

"The massed musicians of the Amherst Symphony Orchestra and the Amherst High School Symphony Strings will make a joyful noise together, as a combined orchestra of more than 150 players will begin the program with wonderful works by Vivaldi and Bizet," Thomas said.

The ASO has chosen several staples of the orchestral repertoire to present to the evening's audience, Thomas added.

"Wagner's overture to 'Die Meistersinger von Nurnburg' is a grand work full of majesty and splendor," he noted, adding that Weber's "Oberon," which will open the second act, is full of grace and wit.

"Deeply moving, the 'Adagietto' from Mahler's 'Fifth Symphony' will touch the soul," Thomas predicted.

The night will conclude with an arrangement of music from one of the most popular and enduring musicals of all time, "The Sound of Music," as arranged by Robert Russell Bennett.

"Surrounded by Students" will be an evening of education and audience participation. The day's events will be held at Amherst Middle School, 55 Kings Highway in Snyder. Admission is free, and a shuttle bus will be available from Amherst Senior High School, at 4301 Main St., Amherst, to the middle school.

e-mail: JSchmelzer@beenews.com