Friday, Oct. 25, 1985
Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan
7
Chinese conductor's debut Sunday
By Jill White Of the Kansan staff
The University Symphony Orchestra will perform a variety of music from Beethoven to Barber in conductor Zuehuang Chen's debut at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in the Crafton-Preyer Theater, Murphy Hall.
The concert will feature James Moeser, dean of fine arts, on the solo organ passages of Camille Saint-Saens' "Symphony No. 3 in C-minor, Opus 78." This piece will be dedicated to George Lawner, former orchestra conductor who died in May.
"It's the best work that Saint-Saens wrote and an important part of contemporary literature." Moeser said recently. "One of the things that makes it unique is that the organ has such a significant part. It's commonly called the organ concoro."
The orchestra will perform two other pieces in its fall concert: Samuel Barber's "Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance" and Ludwig van Beethoven's "Overture to Egmont, Opus 84."
Chen, who is the first Chinese conductor to pursue a doctoral degree in conducting at an American university, said the orchestra needed several more rehearsals but was nearly ready for the concert.
"Technically, we've almost cleaned up all the problems." Chen said,
"The orchestra is in a good stage to
play."
Chen is a former student of Seitj Ozawa, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He received a master's degree from the University of Michigan and has almost completed a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan. In November, he will take his final oral exam with his dissertation committee.
"I feel very honored to work with Dr. Moeser," Chen said. "For a university symphony orchestra it's not very easy to get such a good organist as Dr. Moeser."
For the concert, the University borrowed an Allen Digital organ from Jenkins Music Co., Kansas City, Mo.
Moeser said the organ part was not difficult. He performed it two years ago with the Greeley Symphony Orchestra, Greeley, Colo., and before that with Tri-Cities Symphony Orchestra, Kingsport, Tenn. Sunday's performance will be Moeser's first with KU's orchestra.
Chen said Barber's music was rich with colors and a range of dynamics. It is deeply rooted in a late romantic style and technically difficult.
Mark Puckett, Oklahoma City graduate student in piano, will join the orchestra to play the prominent solo piano passages.
"The Barber piece is a pretty involved work," Puckett said. "The challenging aspect of it is that it's so interwoven with the orchestra."
Barber, an American composer who died in 1981, originally composed the music for ballet. In the 1940s, Barber combined the important sections to create an orchestral suite of seven movements.
Chen said KU's orchestra would perform the third version, a one-movement piece for symphonic oration, which Barber wrote in the 1908s.
"Barber is a genius for orchestra," Chen said. "His music is kind of difficult to play because of the strings that are needed emotional growth to a climax."
Beethoven was a composer who had a philosophy toward life that involved suffering, sadness and victory through struggle. Chen said.
“You can see this conception in his symphonies like the fifth, and it's the same idea of this overture,” Chen wrote. “He's one of my favorite composers.”
Beethoven originally wrote 10 incidental musical pieces for the play of "Egmont" by Goethe, a German playwrite. The overture is the one most frequently played in symphonic orchestras. Chen said.
KANU-FM will broadcast the concert live and will broadcast it again sometime in December.
The movie "Gandhi" will be shown at 7:30 p.m. today at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries building, 1204 Orave Ave.
On Campus
The Biology Club will meet at 4 p.m. today in the Sunflower Room of the Kansas Union.
Strat-o-matic Baseball Club will meet at 7 p.m. Monday in Parlor C of the Union.
KU Sword & Shield will meet at 8 p.m. Monday in the Walnut Room of the Union.
Chrysalis Coalition will meet at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in the Oread Room of the Union.
On the Record
Two silver candle holders, valued together at $2,000 were stolen Friday night or Saturday morning from the Alpha Chi Omega sorority house, Lawrence police said yesterday. The women were out of the house when the theft occurred, police said.
Four cars parked at Stouffer Place were burglarized between 7 p.m. Monday and 9 a.m. Tuesday, KU police said. A tape recorder valued at $82 was taken from one car and 40 quarters were taken from another.
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