Symphony to share stage with SIU Carbondale symphony

The Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra will present Symphonic Spectacular, its final concert of the season. This concert will feature the combined orchestras from Southeast Missouri State University and SIU Carbondale.

The program will include a world premiere of the composition "Two Brothers: A musical." "Two Brothers" was written by American composer James M. Stephenson about the Civil War and families being divided. Dr. Sara Edgerton will conduct the concert.

"It will be a huge orchestra because on the stage of Bedell it will be the combined orchestras from Southeast and from Carbondale," Edgerton said. "It will be like 100 of us on the stage, and that allows us to play some really special music that's composed for very large orchestras. It will be a wonderful sound to have all those players on stage, and it's a great learning experience, too, because we will have students from our university and students from Carbondale sitting right next to each other sharing a stand. So they will have a chance to learn from each other, so that's really exciting.

The Southeast Missouri Symphony on stage. Submitted photo

"One of the pieces that we are playing is a world premiere written by James Stephenson, who is a notable American composer. He wrote a piece in honor of the 150-year anniversary of the Civil War. He wrote a piece called 'Two Brothers,' which literally describes families that were torn apart by the Civil War. If it be one brother is serving in the Confederate army and another brother serving in the Union, or father and son on different sides. It features diary excerpts and poems, and it is really moving. I think it really makes us think about that time period."

The narrators for the show will be professor Chris Goeke and former Southeast history professor Frank Nickell. The program will open with "Prelude to die Meistersinger" by German composer Richard Wagner. After that selection the group will perform "Afro American Symphony" by William Grant Still.

Still was the first African-American composer to have significant works performed by major American orchestras and opera companies, and he was the first African-American to conduct a major American orchestra. The second half of the concert will feature "Two Brothers." The two symphonies will play every song together.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall.

This will be the second time that the students from Southeast will perform on stage with SIU Carbondale. The first time was two years ago.

"It's kind of tricky because we will have a dress rehearsal in Carbondale. We have been practicing the pieces on our own, but we will have a big dress rehearsal in Carbondale and we will have one here." Edgerton said. "So we will have two rehearsals with the big combined orchestras and that gives us a chance to tweak some things, and then we will have two performances, one here and one in Carbondale."

Musicians come from different backgrounds and have different playing styles, and being able to bring everyone together is more complicated than some may think. Edgerton said that because the conductor at SIU and herself have worked together in the past, they feel confident that the musical styles won't be that different. She said that lots of orchestras tend to be made up of people from lots of different musical backgrounds, so you learn to adjust.

"One of the main things for him [SIU music instructor] and for myself is to make sure we are using the same kind of tempos and approach, so when we do get both orchestras together it won't be such a shock, a lot of playing in a large ensemble is learning to adapt to the sounds around, and I feel this will be a great experience for everyone," Edgerton said.

Edgerton said that after this concert, she is open to doing more concerts with SIU Carbondale as well as with other schools.