Live Jazz
Saturday, May 3rd, 7:30pmThe Whole Note Performance Club
Enjoy an evening of live jazz at The Whole Note Performance Club. The Great River Jazztet will be presenting a variety of jazz selections. Donations are welcome and appreciated. Saturday, May 3rd, 7:30pm. 570 Westgate Plaza Shopping Center, Bedford, Va 24523. Sponsored by the Bedford Community Orchestra. For more information visit www.thewholenote.org or call 540-947-0208.
2008 Spring Concert
May 17, 2008, 7:30pmBedford Middle School Auditorium
The Bedford Community Orchestra will be performing its Spring Concert on Saturday, May 17th, in the Bedford Middle School Auditorium, at 7:30 PM. Scott Walter, BCO Music Director, will be conducting. Music will include Danse Infernale, the Firebird, selections from Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Isle of Calypso, Russian Easter Overture, and Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony Finale.
The BMS Auditorium is located at 503 Longwood Avenue. Be sure to arrive early for close-in parking and your choice of concert seating. A contribution of $10 per person is recommended. Mark you calendar now for an enjoyable evening of orchestral music in Centertown Bedford.
Paddy D Quartet
Friday, June 20th, 7:30pmThe Whole Note Performance Club
Come and enjoy a wonderful evening with The Paddy D Quartet in the comfort of The Whole Note’s listening environment. Coffee, tea, and refreshments will be on sale. The Whole Note is located at 570 Blue Ridge Ave, Westgate Shopping Center, Bedford, Va 24523. Call for more info 540-947-0208.
Chamber Music
Saturday, April 26th, 7:30pmThe Whole Note Performance Club
Enjoy an evening of chamber music at the Whole Note Performance Club. Small ensembles will be presenting a variety of classical and contemporary works. Donations are welcome. Saturday, April 26th, 7:30pm. 570 Westgate Plaza Shopping Center, Bedford, Va 24523. Sponsored by the Bedford Community Orchestra. For more information visit www.thewholenote.org or call 540-947-0208.
Fall Concert
Nov. 17, 2007, 7:30 PMBedford Middle School Auditorium
The Bedford Community Orchestra will be performing its Fall Concert on November 17th, in the Bedford Middle School Auditorium, on Saturday evening at 7:30 PM. Scott Walter, BCO Music Director, will be conducting.
The BMS Auditorium is located at 503 Longwood Avenue. Be sure to arrive early for close-in parking and your choice of concert seating. A contribution of $10 per person is recommended. Mark you calendar now for an enjoyable evening of orchestral music in Centertown Bedford.
Directions
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The Fall Concert will include music from:
* Selections from King Kong
* Story of Mumble Happy Feet… John Powell (from the movie)
* La Fiesta Mexicana… H. Owen Reed
* Academic Festival Overture… Brahms
* American In Paris… Gershwin
* Waltz from Swan Lake… Tchaikovsky
Costume Party
Nov. 2, 2007, 7-10 PMThe Whole Note
The Bedford Community Orchestra invites the Friends of the BCO to join us for a Costume Party on Friday, Nov 2nd. The party will be from 7-10PM at The Whole Note, the home of the BCO. Coffee, soft drinks and light hors’ dourves will be available. The party will also feature LIVE JAZZ. Costumes are required, so make plans now.
The Whole Note is located at 570 Blue Ridge Avenue, Bedford, in the Westgate Plaza Shopping Center. (Directions)
Spring Concert
May 12, 2007, 7:30 PMBedford Middle School Auditorium
Concert Program has Fire, Witches and a Bald Mountain The upcoming performance by the Bedford Community Orchestra promises to expose the audience to an eclectic range of music and will be the among the most challenging programs the BCO has ever performed. While some of the music may be well known to some, there will be selections that will allow conductor Scott Walter to take the audience to a new horizon of music appreciation.
The prominent piece of the program will be Samuel Barber’s Medea’s Dance of Vengeance. Composed in 1955, this is one of the most successful concert scores of his career. The composition was derived from Medea, a ballet composed by Barber in 1947. Barber used the strongest parts of his seven-movement ballet to create Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance, which was later renamed as Medea’s Dance of Vengeance. Medea is a story of Greek mythology that revolves around jealousy and revenge. Medea was a powerful sorceress married to Jason of the Argonauts, a group of heroes that were known for finding the Golden Fleece, with the help of Medea’s magic. Jason later pursued another wife, Glauce, the daughter of King Creon, for a more favorable marriage. In her revenge, Medea sent a cloak to Glauce which was poisoned and killed her by setting her on fire. Her greatest and most disturbing act of vengeance was the murdering of her two children to spite Jason. While Barber’s composition is based on the story of Medea, it is not meant to be a retelling of the story. It is used as a foundation used to project the psychological states of jealousy and vengeance. Barber believed the piece not only reflected the Greek story of Medea and Jason, but also that of modern love. Medea’s Dance of Vengeance consists of two parts. The first, often known as the Meditation, could be described as the calm before the storm. It has moments of beauty combined with an unsettling backdrop of musical colors, rhythms and textures. The second part is the Dance, which pushes the piece in a different direction. It is much faster, containing rapidly changing meters, and has a continuous drive. The Dance contains parts that have some influence in jazz literature combined with classical influences. As all the sections fuse together, the piece closes in a relentless finale.
The BCO will be playing one of Modest Mussorgsky’s most well known pieces, Night on Bald Mountain, based on a work of Russian literature about a gathering of witches high atop a mountain devoid of trees. Originally the piece was entitled “St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain. The piece was orchestrated by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and was named Night on Bald Mountain. This work was never performed during Mussorgsky’s lifetime, primarily due to criticism by his mentor, Mily Balakirev. Manuel De Falla’s Ritual Fire Dance is taken from his ballet, entitled El Amor Brujo (translated as “Love, the Magician”). The ballet is about a gypsy that is terrorized by the ghost of her former lover. The theme is of Spanish influence and is presented by the string section at the beginning and is carried throughout by the various sections in the orchestra.
German composer Engelbert Humperdinck’s Prelude from Hansel and Gretel, was his most successful piece in of his career. Written in 1893, Hansel and Gretel was an opera based on the famous fairy tale of two siblings written by the Brothers Grimm. The opera was originally written as music for his sister’s two children and the idea later escalated into a full opera. The Prelude was performed before the first act of the opera. The music portrays the light and playful feel of the two children and also contains many German folk music themes.
Departing from the classical literature, the Bedford Community Orchestra will be playing several pieces from the motion pictures. John Williams’ Parade of the Ewoks was written for the third movie of the original Star Wars Trilogy, “Return of the Jedi”. Hans Zimmer composed for “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”. The BCO will also be playing excerpts from “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe”. - Jason Thomsen, Principal Trumpet
Arriving early will give you closer parking, but plenty of nearby overflow lots are available. A $10 donation per person is recommended, with free seating available for those unable to make a donation.