Webster University Symphony Orchestra Season presents “Beauty and Fate”

What/Who:

Under the baton of conductor, Paul G. Davis, the Webster University Symphony Orchestra  presents the 2011-12 season finale concert–"Beauty and Fate." The concert features Webster University’s concerto competition, pianist Matt Pankratz, and aria competition winner Catherine Van Zandt.  Mr. Pankratz will perform the first movement of the Bela Bartok Third Piano Concerto.  Ms. Van Zandt will sing “O malheureuse Iphegenie,” by Christoph Willibald Gluck and “Ain’t it a Pretty Night,” by Carlisle Floyd.

The program will open with Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, composed by Claude Debussy. One of Debussy’s best known works, it is considered a work that dates the awakening of modern music. The culminating point of the concert is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor. Noted as one of Tchaikovsky’s most influential works, it is known for its opening “Fate” motive, which is a powerful fanfare. It is a brilliant close to the WUSO season.

When:

Sunday, May 6, 2012, 7 p.m.

Where:

The Concert Hall of the Community Music School at Webster University, 535 Garden Ave. Webster Groves

Cost:

$12 general public, $6 seniors (over 60) Tickets are purchased at the door. Free to students with current ID. Season tickets for the WUSO are available by calling 314-968-7040.

More info:

Call the Webster University Orchestra Office at 314-968-7040 or 314-968-7128.

Paul G. Davis comes to the podium with an extensive professional background that spans both the classical and jazz idioms in conducting, performance and teaching.

In constant demand as a conductor and clinician, his musical activities have taken him throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, including numerous Regional and All-State concerts and a highly acclaimed concert with the Grand Orchestre d’Harmonie des Guides of Brussels, Belgium. Dr. Davis holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting from The University of Texas at Austin.

Prior to his appointment at Webster, Dr. Davis served as a member of the conducting faculties at the University of Alabama School of Music, the Petrie School of Music at Converse College in South Carolina, Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, Georgia and at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He has conducted celebrated performances of the Huxford Symphony Orchestra, OperAlaBama, the Alabama Wind Ensemble and the Alabama Chamber Winds, as well as being Founder and Music Director of the Rhodes Chamber Players in Memphis.

As a supporter of new music, he led a commissioning project to produce Donald Grantham’s From ‘An Alabama Songbook', and recently collaborated with Ballet Memphis in a full stage production of Michael Whalen’s Shadows of October. His diverse experience as a performer ranges from appearances with the Memphis Symphony to the Amy Grant NBC Christmas telecast and includes the Spokane Symphony Orchestra and the Montana Summer Symphony.

In his capacity as conductor and performer, he has worked with such artists as Awadagin Pratt, Sandra Wolf-Meei Cameron, Byron Stripling, Kevin Mahogany, Bob Mintzer of the Yellowjackets, Doc Severinsen, Maynard Ferguson and Ernie Watts. Other conducting activities include work with Fred Mills of the Canadian Brass, the Dallas Wind Symphony, the Empire Brass and the Monarch Brass.

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