Concerts

The Murfreesboro Symphony Orchestra will end its 37th Season on April 25, 2019, mirroring the way they started; “Night at the Movies – The Sequel,” featuring first-time, main-stage, guest conductor Cesar Leal. This is the fifth and final concert of the season that features well-known and well-loved movie classics. “This has truly been a great season for us. More people have attended than in a very long time for our mainstage concerts,” said a very pleased President, Board of Directors, Jane E. McNulty. “I think the theme and the selection of pieces truly hit home. So many of us have fond memories of good movies we saw a long time ago, and not so long ago, and when performed by these professional musicians, it truly was a pleasure to relive the movies and the moments,” she added. The April concert will be conducted by Cesar Leal, a Columbian born musicologist and currently the artist director and conductor of the Sewanee Symphony Orchestra. He has led ensembles across the US, Panama, Columbia, France and Ukraine. Among the pieces to be performed on this final night of the season are Overture to Barber of Seville, Symphony 5 and 7 by Ludwig van Beethoven, Music from Frozen, Disney’s Magic, The Sound of Music and Star Wars Suite to name a few. “Come join us for this final concert of the season and have the music from the symphony put an extra touch on this spring season,” said McNulty. The theme for next year’s season is currently being worked on, and McNulty said they have big news to present to the community later this spring, so watch for this in the news. “We’re working hard to give the community the very best of music. More and more people are realizing that we have a professional symphony orchestra in town and have made it part of their seasonal traditions. “The Veteran’s concert in November and Christmas concert in December were huge events. For the December event we had standing room only, and even in February we had almost doubled our number of concert goers,” said McNulty. The April 25th concert takes place at First United Methodist Church on 265 W. Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro at 7PM. Tickets are available at www.murfreesborosymphony.com. The Symphony also has an early bird special for next season’s tickets available on their website. The season starts in September. The April 25th concert takes place at First United Methodist Church on 265 W. Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro at 7PM. Tickets are available at www.murfreesborosymphony.com. The Symphony also has an early bird special for next season’s tickets available on their website. The season starts in September. ———————————————— Colombian born conductor and musicologist César Leal is currently the artistic director and conductor of the Sewanee Symphony Orchestra in Sewanee, TN, where he also serves as a member of both the faculty and the artistic advisory committee of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. He has led ensembles across the U.S., Panama, Colombia, France, and the Ukraine. Maestro Leal’s activities as a Conductor and Musicologist often intersect and his interest in interdisciplinarity and collaboration often inform his scholarly and artistic projects.  In collaboration with the Lexington Ballet (KY), he directed a full-stage production devoted to Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes (2013).  This tribute included performances of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Chopin Sylphides, and Debussy’s Afternoon of a Faun.  In 2011 and 2012 he was the assistant director of the Congrés Mondiale d’Écologie Sonore (Switzerland), an event devoted to music research and performance. Leal’s program for his debut with the Panama National Symphony Orchestra in July 2014 featured works from the fin-de-siècle (1880-1913) that bridged European and Latin American musical traditions. Most recently (2017), Leal collaborated with the American Spiritual Ensemble in a concert version of George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.  In 2019, he also collaborated with baritone Reginald Smith Jr., Metropolitan Opera National Auditions Winner (2015) for a performance of Pilgrimage, a rarely performed Cantata for orchestra and baritone, by American living composer Carlisle Floyd (b. 1926).  He has recorded works by several Latin American composers and has presented scholarly papers in the U.S., Canada, Greece, Japan, Italy, France, England, Peru, Colombia, and Switzerland. An advocate of young musicians, Maestro Leal often teaches conducting workshops and acts as a guest clinician with youth orchestras in the U.S. and abroad. Since 2015, he teaches a conducting masterclass at the KIIS summer program in Salzburg. For the 2017-2018 season he was named artist in residence for the prestigious orchestral program at Stevenson High School in Chicago. As an adjudicator, Leal is often invited to be part of important national and regional competitions such as the Midwest Young Artists concerto competition (Chicago, IL), Jacqueline Avent concerto competition (Sewanee Summer Music Festival), as well as the CSO youth orchestras (Chattanooga, TN) and the Tennessee Tech University (Cookeville, TN) concerto competitions. Maestro Leal is truly excited and grateful for his collaboration with the musicians and staff of the Murfreesboro Symphony Night at the Movies – The SequelConcert date—4/25/19 César Leal, Conductor Program Part I (The Classics at the Theater) Overture to Barber of Seville—Rossini Symphony 5 Mov. 1—Beethoven Symphony 7 Mov. 2—Beethoven Dance of the Hours—Ponchielli Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major K.218 Mov. 1—Mozart —Intermission— Part II (Film Scoring) Music From Frozen—Krogstad Disney Magic—Lowden The Sound of Music—Rodgers and Hammerstein/Bennett Theme From ET— Williams/Playhar Star Wars Suite—Williams I. Main Title III. Imperial March’

Spend Valentine’s Day with the Symphony! The forth concert this season is titled “Love Songs Through the Movies” and is scheduled for February 14, 2019 at 7PM, on Valentine’s Day. Conductor Jordan Tang and the symphony players will play unforgettable pieces such as “The Marriage of Figaro,” love theme from Romeo and Juliet, prelude to “Carmen,” “Lara’s Theme” and, “Wedding March” to name a few. Dr. Jordan Tang has served as Music Director and Conductor of the Jackson Symphony (TN) for 27 seasons, Music Director and Conductor of the Paducah Symphony (KY) for 23 years, Associate Conductor of the Charlotte Symphony and Charlotte Pops Orchestra (NC), Music Director of the Ozark Festival Orchestra (MO), the Missouri State University Symphony, the Youth Symphony of the Carolinas, and the New Music Ensemble in Utah. As guest conductor, he has appeared in concert with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Nashville, Memphis, Kansas City , Gainesville Chamber, South Arkansas, and Sewanee Summer Music Center orchestras. He has studied conducting privately with Joseph Rosenstock, and also with Otto Werner Mueller, Sergiu Comissiona and Harold Farberman. As a composer of more than 90 original works and hundreds of arrangements and orchestrations, Jordan has written four symphonies, three string quartets, concerto works for timpani, percussion, violin and cello, large orchestral works, instrumental and ensemble works, a Passion, a ballet, as well as keyboard, vocal and choral works. His compositions have been performed by the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Utah, Charlotte, Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Kansas City , Springfield, Jackson, Paducah, Victoria and Elmira Symphonies, the Rochester Philharmonic, Indianapolis and Gainesville Chamber Orchestras. His works have also been performed in England, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Australia and Hong Kong. Commercially recorded on “Marco Polo” (part of “Naxos”) and “Opus One” labels as well as published, he has received thirty-six ASCAP Awards. As a composer, he has studied with Vladimir Ussachevsky, Ramiro Cortes, Marcel Dick, Heinz Werner Zimmermann, Jan Bender and Kalervo Tuukkanen. He has been invited to the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo, two world-renowned artist colonies. He was named Tennessee Composer of the Year, and has also been named to the honorary titles of Kentucky Colonel and Duke of Paducah. Dr. Jordan resides in Jackson, TN, with his wife of thirty-five years. They have two grown children, Philip and Paige. Click here for tickets Concert Jordan Tang, ConductorOverture to The Marriage of Figaro – Wolfgang Amadeus MozartSalut d’amour (Love’s greeting) – Edward ElgarA time for us (Love Theme) from Romeo and Juliet – Nino Rota arr. by Robert LongfieldOn the street where you live from My Fair Lady – Frederick LoeweCore ‘ngrato (Ungrateful heart) – Salvatore Cardillo orch. by Jordan TangRitual Fire Dance from El amor brujo (Love, the magician) – Manuel deFalla I n t e r m i s s i o nPrelude to Carmen – Georges BizetMoonlight Sonata, first movement – Ludwig van Beethoven arr. and orch. by Jordan TangThe lover from Rakastava (The Lover) – Jean SibeliusLara’s Theme from Doctor Zhivago – Maurice Jarre arr. by Merle IssacIl mio tesoro intanto from Don Giovanni – Wolfgang Amadeus MozartGod so loved the world – John Stainer Transcribed by Jordan TangWedding March from A Midsummernight’s Dream – Felix Mendelssohn Soloist Collin Peterson.