Open and free to the community, the Instrumental Music Concert is part of BC’s yearlong symposium, “A Celebration of Appalachia,” and will feature works by Appalachian composers and about Appalachian life.
The Concert Band will perform Timothy Johnson’s “For Liberty and Unity,” a musical portrait commemorating the creation of West Virginia as a separate state from Virginia. The band also will perform Roland Barrett’s “Month of the Cold Moon,” an emotional piece about the tragic journey endured by the Cherokee people on The Trail of Tears.
Other works by the Concert Band will include the Brower/Hayes suite from “World of Warcraft,” Charles Carter’s “Symphonic Overture,” and Edwin Eugene Bagely’s “National Emblem March.”
The BC Community Orchestra will perform Georges Bizet’s “Farandole” and Charles Bryan’s “Birmingham Suite,” a piece inspired by the Civil Rights Movement and the desire to bring equality to African Americans. The Orchestra also will play Beethoven’s V, 1st movement, and Beethoven’s VI, 5th movement, “Shepherd’s Hymn.”
BC’s Jazz Ensemble will conclude the spring Instrumental Music Concert with a variety of jazz favorites, including a bit of blues improvisation and the standards throughout the history of jazz. The Jazz Ensemble portion of the program will take place in the more informal setting of BC’s Quick Shott Café Coffeehouse in Shott Hall.
The Spring Instrumental Music Concert is just one of many events in Bluefield College’s yearlong “Celebration of Appalachia” symposium, featuring lectures, concerts, exhibits, discussions, movies, theatre, tours, and other educational and entertaining activities designed to honor the Appalachian heritage. For more information, visit the BC web site at www.bluefield.edu/appalachia.