Orchestra Concert Features Students and Community
The Brodbeck concert hall hosted the University Orchestra in their fall concert on Nov. 8. The Orchestra involves over 50 members and includes students as well as community members. The orchestra performed in sections before performing a final song joined together.
The orchestra is composed of violin, viola, cello, bass, piccolo, trumpet, trombone, tuba, euphonium, French horn, flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and percussion.
Each section was directed by Aaron Cooley. The songs ranged from opera overtures to cultural pieces and highlighted select groups of musicians.
The concert began with the Chamber Orchestra, followed by the Brass Ensemble, then the Chamber Winds before finally all members joined the stage to play their finale piece “Overture to Nabucco.”
The night showcased the talented musicians in the Platteville community
“We had a great performance. Everyone worked their tails off. I think everything had great moments. every chamber group that performed was making some real music tonight.” Cooley said. “I am very fortunate to work with such a dedicated group of students and musicians who work so tirelessly to perform at an extremely high level. They are such amazing people.”
Jazz Concert Highlights Senior Musicians
A Pioneer Jazz Orchestra and Jazz I concert was held on Nov. 9 in the Brodbeck Concert Hall.
Six jazz pieces were performed in total, and two senior members in the Jazz I ensemble were featured in specific pieces during their set. There was also a trumpet feature and duet during the Pioneer Jazz Orchestra performance.
Pioneer Jazz Orchestra was the first of the two to perform with 20 members playing piano, bass, percussion, saxophone, trumpet, trombone and electric bass. The music featured many of the sections, and many solos were performed on an array of instruments.
Trumpet player, Kyra Liske, soloed through the entire duration of “One for Winette.”
“Tonight was actually a really big step for myself. I have really bad stage fright so the fact that I got up there and performed a feature piece in front of a decent sized crowd was super encouraging,” Liske said.
Trombonist Jonathan Grorud and Director David Cooper followed with a duet feature.
Jazz I began their performance after a brief intermission.
The group is composed of 18 members, each playing piano, bass, percussion, saxophone, trombone and trumpet, as well as a few musicians featuring their skills on nonconventional jazz instruments, such as the flute, flugelhorn and claves.
The song “Big Long Blues” featured UW-Platteville senior Matt McCarthy on the trombone. Grorud performed a solo through the overall. I think we did a really good song “Dream of the Return.”
“I feel like it went really well. I think in general it was a really well-balanced program,” Grorud said. “I’m very happy with how things went. Everything went really great; they always rise to the occasion, and they put on a concert that’s always better than their last rehearsal. It is neat to be on the stage when they are playing even better than they have ever played before, you can just feel that.
The features are always hard. Those are sad for me. Those are some things that I will think about the most,” Cooper said about the performance.
The jazz concert featured some of the most talented musicians that UW-Platteville has to offer, with music containing unique features for every group of performers.
