Southeastern concert to pay tribute to Beethoven
Friday, March 15, 2019
by: Tonya Lowentritt
SOUTHEASTERN CONCERT PAYS TRIBUTE TO BEETHOVEN - Southeastern Louisiana University Symphony Orchestra, Northshore Chorale, Bella Voce, and Southeastern Concert Choir will pay tribute to Ludwig van Beethoven in a concert March 20 at the Columbia Theatre. Titled “Beethoven Night at the Columbia Theatre,” the concert is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. in the downtown Hammond theater and features guest conductor Friederike Kienle of Germany.
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University Symphony Orchestra, Northshore Chorale,
Bella Voce, and Southeastern Concert Choir will pay tribute to Ludwig van Beethoven
in a concert March 20 at the Columbia Theatre. Titled “Beethoven Night at the Columbia
Theatre,” the concert is scheduled at 7:30 p.m. in the downtown Hammond theater.
Violin Professor and Orchestra Director Victor Correa-Cruz said guest conductor
for the concert is Friederike Kienle of Germany, and choral conductors are Director
of Choral Activities Alissa Rowe and Music Education Instructor Amy Prats. Concert
vocal soloists include soprano Sara Cage of Baton Rouge, alto Anna Labranche of Mandeville;
tenor Jody Bennett of Conroe, Tex.; and bass Joshua Staes of Baton Rouge.
“We are honored to have Friederike Kienle who is developing a brilliant international
career and who has proven herself to critics and audiences as an authority on Beethoven,”
Correa-Cruz said. “We are also thrilled to join forces with these choral ensembles
that are an essential part of the Southeastern artistic scenery and are well known
for the superb quality shown in all their performances.”
Correa-Cruz said the Symphony Orchestra will perform the “Fifth Symphony” and
Overture to “Egmont.”
“Both pieces are good examples of Beethoven’s ‘Middle Period.’ During this time
from 1802 – 1812, his music became more heroic, influenced by the ideas of the French
Revolution,” said Correa-Cruz. “It is the time when his Third Symphony, ‘The Eroica’
was composed, making Beethoven a champion of freedom and independence, while promoting
the image of an artist who rejects being a mere servant of the nobility and claims
his own status in society.”
Two choral works in the second half of the concert, the “Benedictus” and the
“Cantata Op. 112,” come from the “Late Period,” Correa-Cruz added, illustrating a
more intimate writing in Beethoven’s compositions.
Tickets for the concert, available at the Columbia Theatre box office, located
at 220 E. Thomas St. in Hammond, are $10 for adults, and $5 for Southeastern faculty
and staff, seniors, and non-Southeastern students. Southeastern students are admitted
free with university I.D.
Box office hours are Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and one hour
prior to performances. For ticket information, call 985-543-4371.
For more information about the concert, contact Southeastern’s Department of
Music and Performing Arts at 985-549-2184.