PRESS RELEASE
From the Orchestra of Southern Utah
For Immediate=
Release
Contact: =
Laurel
Kay Dodgion, (435) 865-1492
Photo Cutline: Doyle Armbrust, Steve Downs and Tracy Bu will perfor=
m at
the Orchestra of Southern Utah Talent Sh=
owcase
Thursday, September 18th .
Talent
Showcase Scheduled for He=
ritage
Center
=
The Orchestra of Southern U=
tah will
open their 2008-2009 concert season with a Talent Showcase on Thursday,
September 18th at 7:30 pm at the Heritage Center. OSU celebrates the talents of musi=
cians
and vocalists, as well as composer Leroy Anderson.
&nbs=
p; OSU
Musical Director and Conductor Xun Sun will conduct the solo performances of
Doyle Armbrust, Steve Downs, Tracy Bu, Jackie Jackson and Johnny Gallis. Dr. Joel Neves will conduct the
Centennial Celebration of Leroy Anderson’s music, including soloist G=
ary
Player performing Trumpeter’s
Lullaby. Major sponsorshi=
p for
the concert comes from the RAP (Recreation, Arts, and Parks) Fund administe=
red
by Cedar City Corporation.
&nbs=
p; Doyle
Armbrust began his studies on the viola at the age of five at Wheaton College
in Wheaton, IL. During his college years, Armbrust=
was
principal violist of the Northwestern University Chambe=
r and
Symphony Orchestras as well as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago under Maestro
Daniel Barenboim. Most recently, Armbrust enjoyed a three year
fellowship in the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson
Thomas. Armbrust =
;performed
his solo debut with the Filarmonia das Beiras in Aveiro, Portugal. He has been featured on NPR's &quo=
t;Weekend
Edition" and Mozart's "Sundays Live from the LA County Museum of
Art" in Los Angeles.
Armbrust moved back to Chicago=
with his wife, Rebecca, with whom he performs regularly. He performs with t=
he Corky
Siegel's Chamber Blues, a musical group that artfully combines gritty Chicago blues and
rarefied classical chamber music under the direction of composer and harmon=
ica
virtuoso Corky Siegel. He will
perform the famous Romanze for =
viola
by Max Bruch with the OSU.
&nbs=
p; Steve
Downs was born in Glendale,
California just before the =
end of
World War II. He and his fami=
ly
moved to a small farm in Murra=
y,
Utah, when he was two years
old. D=
owns
grew up listening to records by Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and the Sons of the
Pioneers and dreamed of being a singing cowboy someday. He began a cowboy band called the
“Red Rock Wranglers” and played with them for five years. He moved on to the “Bar G
Wranglers” and played with them for seven years doing dinner shows and
recorded two CD’s with them. <=
/span>Downs now has his own band called the “Red Hi=
ll Rangers.”
He has recently recorded his own CD entitled “Lookin’ back,
Movin’ on”, a look back at some of his favorite old cowboy songs
and moving on to some more contemporary cowboy music. He’ll sing two songs with the
orchestra.
&nbs=
p; Tracy
Bu was born to a musician family. She will perform the flashy gypsy style
violin solo Zigeunerweisen by
Sarasate. At the age of five =
she
began to take violin lessons from her mother and piano lessons from her fat=
her.
She had made significant success on both instruments by the time she turned=
12
years old. She began to focus on violin after she turned thirteen. Ov=
er
the years, Bu has placed first on several Nevada
competitions such as Silv=
er
State competition, =
the
Bolognini Scholarship Competition and MTNA Nevada State Competition. Most
recently she was named the MTNA Southwest Division winner and represented t=
his
division in the national level competition. Bu is currently studying with
Weiwei Le, professor of violin at Department of Music, University of Nevada=
,
Las=
Vegas.
&nbs=
p; Jackie
Jackson is the director of the women’s choir, In Jubilo and teaches v=
oice
at Southern Utah University. Her performance pieces for the Talent
Showcase were arranged by LeGrand Andersen. Andersen is an adjunct Piano/Theory/Aural Skills Instruc=
tor at
SUU.
&=
nbsp; Johnny
Gallis, a longtime resident of Cedar
City, is currently
pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree in mathematics at SUU, with a minor in
music. He has played the French horn for over 10 years and studied under ma=
ny
talented horn teachers, including Lauralyn Anderson and Susan Linder. He has
participated in numerous music ensembles, including the Canyon View High Sc=
hool
Wind Ensemble and Marching Band and the SUU Band and Orchestra. Gallis has
played in the OSU for the past 4 seasons, and enjoys playing with this grou=
p of
talented and hard-working musicians. He has performed a variety of pieces at
venues such as the OSU Recital Series, SUU student recitals, and the Utah S=
tate
Solo and Ensemble Festival, where he earned the highest possible rating. He
loves performing solo pieces and bringing beautiful French horn music to ma=
ny
different audiences. He will=
play a
movement of a concerto by Mozart with the orchestra.
&=
nbsp; Gary
F. Player has played lead trumpet in concert bands, orchestras, dance bands,
pit orchestras, and smaller ensembles across North A=
merica
since 1955. He and his wife Corrie Lynne moved to Cedar City
in 1989, where he was welcomed into the Orchestra of Southern Utah. Player
first performed bird whistles as a boy with the San Francisco Symphony. More
recent engagements include the Anchorage Symphony, Tulsa Community Band, San
Luis Obispo County Band, Santa Maria Symphony Orchestra, and the Utah
Shakespearean Festival pit orchestra. Gary
plays a Bach Stradivarius trumpet that was given to him new in 1959 by his
father.
&nbs=
p; OSU
will also celebrate the orchestral genius of Leroy Anderson during the Tale=
nt
Showcase, as part of the Leroy Anderson Centennial tribute taking place thr=
oughout
the country. Anderson was "one of the great Ame=
rican
masters of light orchestral music" according to famed movie score comp=
oser
John Williams. "Blue
Tango" was the first instrumental recording ever to sell one million
copies. The Christmas classic
“Sleigh Ride,” is one of his most famous pieces. Anderson's
musical style was heavily influenced by George Gershwin and international f=
olk
music. His technique employed creative instrumental effects and intermitten=
tly
made use of sound-generating items such as typewriters and sandpaper. Anderson occasion=
ally
appeared on the Boston Pops concerts on PBS to conduct his own music. OSU will perform several of
Anderson’s best-known =
pieces:
“Trumpeter’s Lullaby,” “Bugler’s Holiday,R=
21;
“Fiddle Faddle,” “Blue Tango,” “Jazz
Pizzicato,” “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” “The March =
of
the Two Left Feet,” and the “Girl in Satin.” <=
/span>
&nbs=
p; Tickets
for the Thursday, September 18th OSU Talent Showcase are availab=
le
at the Heritage Center Box Office.
The cost is $10 for adults, $5 for students, and $30 for groups of
six. OSU requests that childr=
en
under the age of six (including infants) not attend as the concert will
recorded and podcast on the OSU website, www.orchestraofsouthernutah.org.
###