BCCO spans musical tastes

Published 12:40 am Thursday, April 28, 2011

The theme could be “from Mozart to Monk.”

The Beaufort County Community Orchestra will hold its latest concert at 7 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church in Washington.

The event is free and open to the public.

The program ranges from a work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a song by American jazz pianist/composer/bandleader Theolonius Monk.

Half of the evening will be taken up with Mozart’s “Symphony No. 29,” according to Chris Ellis, conductor of the orchestra.

“It’s for strings, two horns, two oboes,” Ellis said, adding the piece is a normal four-movement symphony.

Other songs to be performed include “Simple Song” from Leonard Bernstein’s “MASS,” and “Arietta” by Leroy Anderson.

Also set to be performed is Monk’s “’Round Midnight,” a standard in the jazz repertoire.

“’Round Midnight” will feature trumpeter Joe Olivieri.

The program probably will last about an hour, Ellis said.

Of all of these and other songs, the symphony could be the “biggest leap” for the orchestra, said Ellis, adding this is the aggregation’s first attempt at Mozart.

“The Beaufort County Orchestra was the dream of Doris Hamilton (from Belhaven), now deceased,” orchestra member Ellen Ratcliffe wrote in a news release. “In the past, (at) Easter (it) was the orchestra’s task to accompany ‘The Messiah’ choir in Terra Ceia.”

“Each concert features young violin students of Lois Omonde and Dawn (Pooser),” Ratcliffe continued. “Miciah Masters and Amy Arnold have moved from student status to members of the orchestra playing in the violin section.”