Southwestern sets Spring Concert Series

The Southwestern Oregon Community College Music Department is hosting its end-of-year concerts at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, June 2, and Wednesday, June 4, in the Hales Center for the Performing Arts on the Coos Bay campus.

Both events are free and open to the public, but donations to the Music Department gratefully would be accepted.

The Monday concert will feature several musical styles from a variety of ensembles. The Chamber and Jazz choirs, under the direction of Ida Jo Gates, will perform jazz and traditional choral works, immediately followed by both choirs and the Recorder Ensemble, under the direction of Charlotte McLauchlin, performing Renaissance and 20th-century works. After a brief intermission, the Southwestern jazz combo Snowballs Chance will perform several jazz works. To close the evening, the newest addition to the Southwestern ensemble offerings, the Oregon Coast Lab Band group Evolution, under the direction of Greg Young, will perform a variety of jazz pieces for Big Band.

On Wednesday, the Southwestern Music Department will present two long-time community ensembles – the Symphonic Choir and Community Orchestra. The concert will begin with a collection of popular show tunes from various musicals of the past several decades performed by the Symphonic Choir, under the direction of Lorna Murphy. After a brief intermission the Community Orchestra, under the baton of Dr. Blake McGee, will take the stage and perform several works for orchestra, including the world premiere of an arrangement of “Asleep in the Deep” for orchestra and tuba featuring Michael Grose of the University of Oregon as the tuba soloist.

Press Release Date: May 29, 2008