Orchestra to Feature a 'Fanfare' Premiere

The Westmont Orchestra, which just finished a tour from Southern California to the Sierra, presents its Spring Orchestra Concert in Santa Barbara on Friday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. in Montecito Covenant Church, 671 Cold Spring Rd., and Sunday, Feb. 24, at 3 p.m. in First Presbyterian Church, 21 E. Constance Ave. General admission is $10, and students are free. To purchase tickets or for more information, please contact the music department at (805) 565-6040.

The concerts, conducted by Michael Shasberger, Adams professor of music and worship, will feature Modeste Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” with orchestration by Maurice Ravel, “Pomp and Circumstance March #4” by Edward Elgar, and Jean Sibelius’ “Karelia Suite.”  The orchestra will also perform a world premiere, “Fanfare on the Hymn Tune Hamburg,” arranged by Westmont student-composer Daniel Gee and based on Isaac Watts’ hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.”

“I hope my arrangement arouses in us the profound tension, mystery and triumph that this wonderful hymn of the church has brought to many who have found themselves at the foot of the cross in need of Christ’s transformation,” Gee says.

Soprano soloist Emmalee Wetzel, a sophomore studying music and vocal performance with Celeste Tavera, will sing “Musetta’s Waltz” from Puccini’s “La Boheme.”

The orchestra’s spring tour, Feb. 15-19, included stops in Grass Valley, Calif., Yosemite, Mariposa, Calif., and Los Angeles.

Upcoming performances include the Spring Faculty Recital on Friday, March 1, at 8 p.m. in Westmont’s Deane Chapel and the Rising Star Concert, featuring world-renown guitarist Mak Grgić on Sunday, March 3, at 3 p.m. in Deane Chapel.