Orchestra to present 'Heroes and Legends' concert at Beaver River Central School

BEAVER FALLS — "Great Heroes and Legends" will be the theme of a concert to be presented by the Orchestra of Northern New York at 7 p.m.Friday at Beaver River Central School.

The orchestra, which has more than 50 professional musicians from New York, New England and Canada, will open the program with Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from the Peer Gynt Suite, followed by "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," which many know from Walt Disney's "Fantasia."

Andrew Horwitz will be a featured soloist, performing Alexander Glasunov's Saxophone Concerto in E Flat Major. Mr. Horwitz, a senior at Canton High School, was winner of the orchestra's third annual James and Katherine Andrews Young Artist Instrumental Competition.

Also on the program, from "The Lord of the Rings" movies, will be "The Fellowship of the Ring," by Howard Shore. The program will conclude with "Superman March" by John Williams from the "Superman" movie.

A grant from the Youth Advisory Council at Beaver River Central School has made it possible for all students who wish to attend the concert to receive complimentary tickets. Otherwise, tickets are $5 for adults and senior citizens. As is usual at the orchestra's concerts, children 12 and under will be admitted for free.

Tickets will be available at the door, the Monnat and Nortz service station in Croghan and the Lighthouse Restaurant in Lowville.

Frontier Communications and the Northern New York Community Foundation are the principal underwriters of the concert, with additional support provided by Kraft Foods of Lowville. The concert season is also made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program.

The Orchestra of Northern New York, now in its 21st season, was founded by Kenneth Andrews, music director/conductor. Its mission is to improve the quality of life in the north country through the presentation of orchestral music in professional settings.

The orchestra includes some students from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam.

It has presented more than 200 concerts. Guest artists have included the Susquehanna String Band, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, pianist Claude Frank, fiddler Mark O'Connor, harpsichordist Igor Kipnis, violinist Jaime Laredo, trumpeter Allen Vizzutti and singer Tony Bennett..

For more information about the orchestra and to hear music from a performance, visit www.onny.org.