Natchitoches-NSU Symphony to perform Oct. 3
NATCHITOCHES – The Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra will open its 2013-14 season Thursday, physician Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Dr. Douglas Bakenhus will conduct the orchestra. Graduate assistant conductors are Mario Alejandro Torres and Lincoln Hall. Northwestern State University Professor of Horn Dr. Kristine Coreil is the featured soloist.
Tickets are $10. Northwestern State University, generic BPCC@NSU and Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts students are admitted free with a current student I.D. Season tickets for the 2013-14 season are available by contacting Robert Scott, president of the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Society, at (318) 352-0075.
According to Bakenhus, due to growth in the strings and orchestral program at Northwestern State, this year’s orchestra will feature two string sections, the Philharmonic Strings and the Symphony Strings. The combined sections have more than 60 musicians.
“We have a large number of talented freshman and sophomores due to the work faculty members Andrej Kurti and Paul Christopher have done in recruiting and teaching students,” said Bakenhus. “Creating an additional string section gives our music education students an additional opportunity to gain valuable leadership experience.”
Bakenhus said the growth was also made possible by the support of the Northwestern State administration and the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Society.
“The administration has been very supportive of the orchestral program and the private support provided by the Symphony Society is so valuable,” said Bakenhus. “The community has also aided the orchestra through their attendance at concerts. We had some of our best attended concerts last year and I hope this trend continues.”
The program is “Russian Sailor’s Dance from ‘The Red Poppy’” by Reinhold Gliere and arranged by Issac, “Suite No. 1” from “Carmen” by Georges Bizet with Torres conducting, “Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major” by Richard Strauss and Symphony No. 8 in G Major” by Antonin Dvorak and featuring Coreil.
Coreil has been a member of the Northwestern State faculty since the fall of 1994, teaching horn and music theory and conducting the Natchitoches-Northwestern Horn Choir. She has played with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Beloit-Janesville (Wisc.) Symphony Orchestra, the Cabrillo Contemporary Music Festival Orchestra in Santa Cruz, Calif., the Longview Symphony, the Texarkana Symphony, the Meridian Symphony and the Rapides Symphony. Coreil is a current member of the Shreveport Symphony, playing in the horn section for the past 14 years.
Coreil received the Mildred Hart Bailey Research Award for performance in the area of modern pieces written for the classical era natural horn. She commissioned Louisiana composer Thomas Hundemer to compose a piece for the natural horn, “Gently Weep for Natural Horn in D and Echoplex.” Coreil has premiered and performed the piece internationally.
