Published: January 02, 2009 09:03 am      

Clinton symphony to perform Jan. 11

CLINTON — Musicians of the Clinton Symphony Orchestra will perform in smaller ensembles at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11 at Zion Lutheran Church in Clinton. The program of chamber music will be the third concert of the symphony’s 55th season, and will include a variety of music and instruments, from the 18th to the 20th century.

To open the program, Crystal Duffee and Nicole Kotman will perform a Suite for Flute and Oboe by American composer Ulysses Simpson Kay.

Kay was one of the pre-eminent African-American composers and teachers of the 20th century.

British composer William Walton’s music is next on the program. His Facade is based on the erudite and poetry of his friend Edith Sitwell. The performance will feature Rob and Thea Engelson, who will perform the Sitwell poems accompanied by instrumentalists Crystal Duffee on flute and piccolo, Emily Bressler playing clarinet and bass clarinet, Julianna Karvelius on alto saxophone, Benjamin Logan on trumpet, Joshua Duffee as percussionist and Robert Whipple on cello. Mark Bressler has organized this ensemble and will conduct.

After intermission, Jon James and Carolyn Aiken, trumpets, and Christine Holmer, organ, will perform an arrangement of “My Spirit Be Joyful” from a cantata by J. S. Bach.

The final portion of the program will be the “American” quartet by Antonin Dvorak, written during his summer visit to Spillville, Iowa, in 1893. The quartet members are Sarah Cullen and Jerry Henry, violins, Julie Marston, viola, and Michael Wahlmann, cello.

Complete program notes for this concert as well as information for the coming concerts of the season are available on the symphony’s Web site at www.clintonsymphony.org.

Advance tickets for the concert are available at England Music Center in Clinton, Fitzgerald Pharmacy in Morrison, Ill., and Grummert’s Hardware in Sterling, Ill., and tickets will be available at the door of the concert. Adult admission is $12, with a $5 ticket for high school and college students. Students through eighth grade are admitted free as part of the symphony’s ongoing interest in music education. Maps to the concert site are available at the ticket locations and the symphony’s Web site.