2011-2012 SEASON

Grammy-nominated American composer and bassist Frank Proto has written for a wide range of soloists including Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, Cleo Laine, Sherrill Milnes, Roberta Peters and Doc Severinsen. His Carmen Fantasy was written for one of the world’s great bassists, François Rabbath. Mr. Rabbath celebrates his 80th birthday performing it with the Symphony. Also included on the program is his own compostion, Reitba. The celebration also includes Maurice Ravel’s exciting Daphnis and Chloé and the ever-popular Bolero.

Opening with Sir Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March, known around the world for its majesty and power, this is a regal evening of music. One of Benjamin Britten’s most famous pieces, Variations on a Theme of Purcell, is based on music from Henry Purcell’s Abdelazar and shows off the orchestra splendidly. Closing the evening is Ralph Vaughan Williams’ very beautiful, but rarely performed, Pastoral Symphony.

 Under the baton of Gregory Fuller, the combined voices of the Hattiesburg Choral Union will join The University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra in what has become a holiday tradition. Magnificent choral works and orchestral selections will ring through the air, heralding the season.

This concert features the entire Southern Miss School of Music woodwind faculty. From one of Vivaldi’s finest musical creations to Luigi Zaninelli’s beautiful Canto, and the American premiere of Alan Theisen’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone, this is a tour de force evening by our outstanding artist faculty.

Our guest conductor for this concert is Mack Wilberg, composer, arranger, conductor and music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. His compositions and arrangements are performed and recorded by choral organizations throughout the world and including such artists as Renée Fleming, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel, the King’s Singers, Audra McDonald, David Archuleta, and even narrator Walter Cronkite. The culmination of a multi-day festival, this program features his Requiem and other sacred works performed with the orchestra and a mass choir from across the South.

 Cavalleria Rusticana is one of Pietro Mascagni’s greatest masterpieces. This passionate story of love, jealousy and revenge helped usher in the Italian verismo period, during which literature and opera depicted realistic scenarios and true human emotion.

Giacomo Puccini’s operas are the most frequently performed works in the operatic repertoire. Il Tabarro is the first of Puccini’s trio of operas known as Il trittico (along with Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi.) Set in Paris, this opera tells a tale of deception and murder on the Seine River.

Students in the Southern Miss School of Music annually compete in the William T. Gower Competition. The winners appear as soloists with the orchestra in one of our most popular evenings of music. This year, winners will be selected from the woodwind, brass and percussion studios. Opening with the popular Lt. Kije Suite, this is a great evening showcasing the many talented students at Southern Miss.

  Johann Sebastian Bach’s compositions are considered to be among the finest from the Baroque period. His Mass in B Minor, finalized just before his death, is one of his last and most glorious works. Join conductor Gregory Fuller, the Southern Miss choirs and the Meistersingers Civic Chorus as they perform this magnificent choral masterwork.