Maryville College orchestra performs fall concert

Alan Eleazar is conductor of the orchestra at Maryville College. – Photograph provided by Maryville College Department of Communications

On Monday, Nov. 6 the orchestra at Maryville College presented their fall concert “Out of This World… Of This World… For This World…: An Evening of Orchestral Selections by Copland, Haydn, Straus and Horner.” The concert was held in the Clayton Center for the Art’s Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre.

The Orchestra performed under the direction of Alan Eleazer. The evening’s program included “Variations on a Shaker Melody” by Aaron Copland, “Music from Apollo 13” by James Horner and arranged by John Moss, “Brook Green Suite” by Gustav Holst, “Rosen aus dem Süden” by Johann Strauss II, and both “Symphony No. 94 in G Major” and “Symphony No. 45 in F# minor” by Franz Joseph Haydn. “Brook Green Suite” was conducted by Chris Blankenship ’18, a student conductor at Maryville College.

“I am excited to be able to present to our community this concert of a wide range of music from this century as well as the 20th, 19th and 18th,” Eleazer said. “In the program, we will feature music that reaches beyond our atmosphere into space, as well as music our people with Appalachian roots will recognize, and a classic dance medley by master of the Viennese waltz Johann Strauss II.

We will conclude the evening with movements from two symphonies by a wonderful composer from the Classical Period, Franz Joseph Haydn, that although a masterful composer, was still worldly grounded with a wonderful sense of humor. I am sure it is a concert that everyone will find something to connect with.”

The orchestra at Maryville College is a college and community ensemble. They bring live symphonic performances to the public stage three times per season. This fall concert was the first of this season, and will be the first performance with Alan Eleazer as conductor. Eleazer was named conductor of the orchestra for the 2017-18 season in August.

“Our wonderful musicians from the community and college have been working very diligently to present this to our community,” he added.

Eleazer is an adjunct professor of music and voice at MC. He has been a professional musician, conductor and college educator in the East Tennessee area for more than 30 years. He is in his 10th season of serving as director of the Maryville College Community Chorus.

Eleazer holds a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in sacred music and choral conducting from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). He developed an interest in orchestral conducting while working on his master’s degree and studied with a former conductor of Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (KSO), Maestro Kirk Trevor. This association with Maestro Trevor led to opportunities to conduct rehearsals with the KSO, the UTK Percussion Ensemble, as well as the Knoxville Chamber Orchestra.

While Eleazer’s career has been focused around choral conducting, he is familiar with the world of instruments. Before teaching at the college level, he spent most of his musical career at a large membership church where he conducted a professional orchestra and founded an all-volunteer orchestra and brass ensemble.

For more information about the Orchestra at Maryville College, please call 865.981.8150 or email [email protected].  

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *