LSO opens eighth season Jan. 12 with ‘Planets’
The vast majority of the 82 members of the Life Sciences Orchestra are doctors, nurses, scientists, dentists, bioengineers, social workers and other medical and science professionals.
But on Jan. 12 at Hill Auditorium, they’ll put their musical talents on display to celebrate the solar system, with a performance of Gustav Holst’s suite, “The Planets.”
From the warlike thrill of “Mars” to the jolly “Jupiter” and the ethereal “Neptune,” each planet gets a personality of its own through rhythm and melody.
The free public concert at 8 p.m. also will feature Beethoven’s “Egmont Overture,” and the fiery Spanish spirit of the first movement of Edouard Lalo’s “Symphonie Espagnole,” in which the orchestra will accompany violinist Trina Stoneham, the winner of the LSO’s recent Concerto Competition. The 2007 U-M graduate with a double major in violin performance and biology is now an associate research technician in the Department of Pathology at the Medical School.
The LSO will be led by music director Clinton Smith and assistant conductor Diego Piedra, both students of the nationally known graduate program in orchestral conducting at the School of Music. On the final movement of “The Planets,” the LSO will be joined by members of the Ann Arbor Cantata Singers, directed by Warren Puffer Jones.
The LSO is part of the Gifts of Art program, which brings the world of art and music to the U-M Health System. Founded by UMHS students and staff, the LSO made its concert debut in January 2001.
For more information on the concert or the LSO, go to www.umich.edu/~lsorch, e-mail [email protected] or call 936-ARTS.
