The Bremerton Symphony Orchestra never ceases to amaze.
Under the direction of Elizabeth Stoyanovich, the group is consistently coming up with unique, pertinent and audience-friendly performances to get people out to see the show throughout the season.
Earlier this year it gave a concert called “Bad Bay Beethoven,” which looked at the darker, lesser-known side of the 19th century composer. Then there was the Halloween-themed “Sinister Cinema” performance, an interactive concert in which the orchestra presented numerous works from the scores of silent films from the 1930s era.
And now, the “British Invasion,” a concert slated for tonight at the Bremerton High School Performing Arts Center, 1500 13th St. in Bremerton.
British maestro David Osbon, the principal lecturer in music at Kingston University in London, is coming to town to guest conduct the Nelson Overature and one of his own symphonies.
He and Bremerton Symphony maestra Stoyanovich will start the evening off with a pre-concert chat at 6:30 p.m.
Then at the downbeat at 7:30 p.m., Kitsap-based British transplant, music critic and newspaper columnist Bernard Jacobson will kick off the concert, narrating the “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,” a British composition written by Benjamin Britten in 1945.
The “Young Person’s Guide,” said to be one of the three most popularly used scores in children’s music education, takes an in-depth look at each of the orchestra’s different instrument families as variations on the same theme (Henry Purcell’s “Abdelazar”) are played by each while the narrator provides a play-by-play commentary.
Vaughan Williams’ “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis,” another British composition fairly well-known in the states which as appeared in movie scores like 2003’s “Master and Commander” and 2004’s “The Passion of the Christ,” will follow.
And then the Bremerton Symphony will welcome Osbon to the stage.
He’s been described as a flamboyant type with a towering presence, wild hair and the nickname “The Lion.”
The Bremerton Symphony Orchestra will present “British Invasion” the second-to-last concert in its 2007-08 season at 7:30 p.m. today at the Bremerton High School Performing Arts Center, 1500 13th St. in Bremerton, featuring guest conductor David Osbon, renowned classical musicologist from Kingston University in London. A pre-concert chat with Osbon and Bremerton maestra Elizabeth Stoyanovich will commence at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $24 for adults, $10 for youth. Info: www.bremertonsymphony.org or call (360) 373-1722.
