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WT Symphony Orchestra to Give Free Homecoming Pops Concert
Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu
CANYON, Texas — A pops concert that could help audiences feel right at home will launch the West Texas A&M University Symphony Orchestra’s season.
The orchestra will give its Homecoming pops concert at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7 in Mary Moody Northen Recital Hall on the Canyon campus. Admission is free.
Evgeny Zvonnikov
Kayla Richardson
“This concert will be an evening of both classical favorites and modern-day hits,” said Dr. Mark Bartley, director of orchestral activities, associate director of the School of Music and the Lilith Brainard Professor of Music. “Our program celebrates home and the emotions attached to it — yearning for home, returning back home, and the comfort of being where you most belong.”
Evgeny Zvonnikov, Harrington lecturer in violin, will be featured in “Carmen Fantasy” by Pablo de Sarasate, based on themes from Georges Bizet’s opera “Carmen.”
Kayla Richardson, a junior music industry major from Amarillo, will be featured on “Come Back Home,” a song from her 2020 EP “Seventeen.”
“What a remarkably talented musician,” Bartley said. “She's been charming area audiences with her singing and playing for years now. Her original song perfectly fit our theme, so we worked up a special set for her and the orchestra together.”
The concert also will include the “Nabucco” overture by Giuseppe Verdi, “Venus, the Bringer of Peace” from Gustav Holst’s “The Planets,” “Gandalf” from Johan de Meij’s “The Lord of the Rings,” themes from “Apollo 13” by James Horner, and “Danzón No. 2” by Arturo Márquez.
The free concert is part of WT’s upcoming Homecoming 2021 celebrations , which run Oct. 2 to 9.
Fostering an appreciation of the arts is a key tenet of the University’s long-term plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World , which will be fueled by the historic, $125 million One West comprehensive fundraising campaign.
About West Texas A&M University
WT is located in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT, a Hispanic Serving Institution since 2016, boasts an enrollment of about 10,000 and offers 60 undergraduate degree programs, 40 master’s degrees and two doctoral degrees. The University is also home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in the state and the home of one of the Southwest’s finest art collections. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 14 men’s and women’s athletics programs.
—WTAMU—