Miami U., Hamilton-Fairfield symphonies to combine for concert

The Oct. 23 performance will feature four parts.

The Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra and the Miami University Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ricardo Averbach, performs at Hall Auditorium in Oxford Friday, Oct. 8, 2010.

E.L. Hubbard/Contributing photographer The Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra and the Miami University Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ricardo Averbach, performs at Hall Auditorium in Oxford Friday, Oct. 8, 2010.

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By Caitlin Kluener, Contributing Writer Updated 10:51 AM Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra is combining with the Miami University Symphony Orchestra for the first time to perform as the “Largest Orchestra in Captivity” in a free concert presented in part by the Hamilton Community Foundation, the Ruder-Bever Family Fund and the Friends of the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra.

The concert will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, at the New Life Vineyard, at 2470 Princeton Road.

Maestro Paul Stanbery, conductor of HFSO, and Ricardo Averbach, conductor of the Miami orchestra, will be conducting approximately 150 musicians through the “Tillman Memorial Concert.”

The concert will have four parts: A performance of “American Salute,” by Martin Gould will open the concert, then Alex Boyer, a Lakota West high school student, will perform. Following will be the world premier of “Lento,” by the late composer Lazar Nikolov, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5.

“The Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra is a fully paid orchestra with professional players that are twice as old as the students from Miami University,” Stanbery said jokingly. “This is the first time the Miami University Orchestra has combined with a professional orchestra.”

He said the audience will definitely know there are 150 musicians playing when they perform “American Salute.”

“It’s a loud and ‘bangy’ piece that everyone will love,” he said.

“‘American Salute’ is one of the masterpieces of American music, based on ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home,’” Averbach said. “It was written in 1943 and was meant as a morale booster during the uncertainty of World War II.”

Alex Boyer, student bassoonist and the 2010 David L. Belew Young Artist Solo Competition winner, will perform a Bassoon Concerto.

“The Belew Young Artist Competition offers a $1,000 scholarship to any student who auditions. This year’s auditions were held in June, and Alex won,” Stanbery said. “He is also a student of our (the HFSO) first bassoonist, Paula Aronoff.”

“Paul invited me to conduct ‘Lento.’ This will be the world premiere of this piece by Lazar Nikolov, who already passed away, without having heard the premiere of his composition,” he said. “He is one of the most prominent composers of Bulgaria, former President of the Union of Bulgarian Composers, who was persecuted during the Communist regime.”

Stanbery will conduct Symphony No. 5., what he considers to be “one of the greatest classical compositions of all time.”

“My players have waited an entire lifetime to play this stunning masterpiece of a triumphant piece of music. It’s fast, loud and sweet; every emotion possible is contained in the symphony,” he said.

Averbach added that the Oct. 23 performance of Symphony No. 5 is reminiscent of a past performance dedicated to the late journalist, Daniel Pearl.

“Daniel Pearl was a young American journalist who went to Pakistan for an investigation after 9/11. He was kidnapped and murdered by Al-Quada,” he said. “On Feb. 22, 2002, the day after the world learned of Pearl’s brutal murder, conductor George Pehlivanian, Danny’s neighbor and friend from Paris, was scheduled to lead the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra as a guest conductor. Deeply troubled by the news, he was initially reluctant to perform; however, he decided to go ahead with his concert. The piece they performed in that concert with the Israel philharmonic was Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, the same we are going to perform.”

More than 1,000 people are expected to attend the concert.

“It’s a regional draw. People come from Cincinnati, Kentucky, Dayton and Columbus to hear these compositions,” Stanbery said. “It’s going to be quite a magnificent experience.”

For more information about the concert or the HFSO, call (513) 895-5151 or go online to www.hfso.org.

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