The highly acclaimed Beyond the Score® series will feature Dvorak’s “New World.” Beyond the Score® is Classical Music Exposed! This series uses actors, dramatic vocals, and stunning visuals on a big screen to tell the story behind popular works.
For the “Whose World?” program, The Quincy Symphony Orchestra (QSOA) will perform Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 9” (“From the New World”). The QSOA will collaborate with Quincy Community Theatre using theatrical and multi-media presentations as well as vocal accompaniment to explain the many period influences on Czech composer Antonin Dvorak.
During this multi-faceted concert the audience will explore how this symphony grew out of Dvorak’s abandoned opera based on Longfellow’s “Hiawatha” epic, and how Longfellow’s inspiration itself mixes North American and European stories and ideas. In this symphony, the echoes of many different nations mix with one another to produce a rainbow of identities.
This program is free and open to the public. Tickets are available at the door or in advance at Sturhahn Jewelers (2801 Broadway Street, Quincy, Illinois). A panel discussion will take place prior to the performance begining at 1:30PM.
More about “New World Symphony”…
Dvorak wrote “From the New World,” during his visit to the United States in the late 1890s, which included visits to Czech communities in Iowa. For Dvorak’s fellow countrymen, this work is perhaps the greatest Czech symphony and expresses the composer’s longing for his homeland. For Americans, this is the first great symphony about America. For African-Americans, it is the first great orchestral work to use themes inspired by their songs and spirituals. For Native Americans, it is the first, and so far the only, great work inspired by Native American culture. The genius of Dvorak’s composition is that the very same tunes in this symphony have been claimed as African-American, Native American and Czech.
More about the participants…
Jamar Scott (Baritone), Arkansas native, is the husband of Josephine Scott, the father of Julian Scott, and the principal of Hazel Dell Elementary School in Springfield, IL. He grew up in church and actually began singing in church while in elementary school. However, “when puberty hit,” Jamar could no longer sing those high tenor notes he was accustomed to singing as a younger child. He stopped singing for several years, thinking that traditional gospel music was not written to accommodate lower voices. It wasn’t until Jamar was “strongly encouraged” to take choir at Harris-Stowe State College in St. Louis to fulfill a fine arts elective that he discovered that there was actually music written not only to accommodate lower voices, but to feature baritone vocalists through solos written especially for them. His choir director, Dr. Doris Jones Wilson, cultivated the raw talent that Jamar possessed and later recruited him to become a member of The Legend Singers – the oldest African-American Choral Group west of the Mississippi River – an ensemble dedicated to preserving the music of the indigenous African-Americans such as (Spirituals, Blues, Jazz, Gospel, etc.) Jamar was often a soloist for this phenomenal musical group.
Les Fonza (Narrator) is a product if the Quincy Public Schools and Music Department. He attend Quincy University and received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Education from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. He taught in Dwight, Illinois for several years and then located to Jacksonville, Illinois where he served as District IV chairman of the Illinois Association of Jazz Educators. Under his leadership the District IV Jazz Program grew to include four performing groups. Mr. Fonza moved to his hometown of Quincy where he retired in 2005. There he continues to inspire and instill in his many students the joy of performing and making music. Les continues to teach part time in the Quincy Public Schools while performing with the Quincy Park Band, and several Big Bands, a Jazz Combo and Saxophone Quartet.
Daniel Conboy (Actor, Dvořák) is the District Administrator with Missouri Board of Probation & Parole in Hannibal. He has been involved with Quincy Community Theatre since 1993. He most recently played The Giver in The Giver; Man in Chair in The Drowsy Chaperone; Ivan in Art; Jake in Neil Simon’s Jake’s Women; and Albert in Neil Simon’s Dinner Party. He has played the role of Bob Cratchit three times since 1993. Dan is married to Jeri, has three sons and 4 grand grandchildren.
Drew Quintero (Actor) is a 2005 graduate of Quincy University, Drew Quintero has been active in Quincy theatre for over twenty-two years. Recent stage roles include Eddie in Funny Girl, Carmen Ghia in The Producers, Dennis in All Shook Up and Robert in The Drowsy Chaperone, all at Quincy Community Theatre. While at QU Drew performed, directed and choreographed at QU as well as playing the title role in Jekyll and Hyde. Following graduation he was seen as Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man with Curtain’s Up Theatre Company in Edwardsville, IL. Not just a presence on stage, Drew has many backstage credits to his name as well. He has been stage manager for numerous productions for Muddy River Opera Company in Quincy, and has worked for Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis, the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, PA, and the New York Musical Theatre Festival in New York City.
This performance is part of the program, “Whose World? Dvorak’s New World Symphony.” This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council and with support from Blessing Health System, Advance Physical Therapy, Encore! Symphony Volunteer Council, the Stillwell Foundation, the Community Foundation of the Quincy Area’s Arthur O. & Lela B. Lindsay Fund and Green-Humphrey Family Fund for Music, the Tracy Family Foundation, the Marion Gardner Jackson Trust, the business and individual members of the Quincy Society of Fine Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly.
For more information, please call (217) 222-2856 or visit www.qsoa.org.