The audience definitely was filled with Who Dat spirit.

For the applause was wild and the cheers loud after the Louisiana Sinfonietta premiered Brett Dietzs composition, Available Spaces, Sunday during the fourth concert of its 2009-2010 season.

Dietz is conductor of Hamiruge – The LSU Percussion Group, whose members were featured guest performers on the selection. And before taking the podium as guest conductor, Dietz promised the audience some second-line, Mardi Gras-style rhythms and an appearance of the chorus from When the Saints Go Marching In.

So, its a good thing the Saints won yesterday, Dietz said, referring to the New Orleans Saints 45-14 NFC playoff victory the day before in the Superdome.

Audience members laughed at Dietzs humor, and they were cheering at the end of the piece. The composition was a compilation of New Orleans many cultural and musical sounds driven by the percussion ensemble. It wasnt a toe-tapping song, but the kind of selection that pushes audience members to the edges of their seats in anticipation of what will come next.

Which was the spirited Saints chorus.

Who says you cant mix football with classical music? Certainly not the Sinfonietta, which also dedicated a part of the program to mixing classical music with storytelling.

The Danish folktale The Magic Pot was the featured story. It was backed by an original composition written especially for the presentation by Dinos Constantinides, the Sinfoniettas conductor. This also was the part of the program that accounted for the concerts theme, Music for the Young at Heart.

The Sinfonietta presents a childrens story at the end of this annual concert, with Constantinides conducting while wife Judy narrates. Judy Constantinides is a former childrens librarian, and she chooses and adapts each years story.

The Magic Pot follows the tale of how a magic black pot plays Robin Hood, so to speak, between two brothers, one poor and one rich. Music and narration were neatly balanced in the presentation, and the audience reaction almost rivaled that of Dietzs Available Spaces. Again, almost.

It would have been difficult to outshine any form of Who Dat spirit on Sunday, even in the cramped quarters of the LSU Choir Rehearsal Room. The room is located in the back of the LSU School of Music building, where the Sinfonietta originally was scheduled to perform in the Recital Hall.

But the Recital Hall has been undergoing repair work on damage caused by Hurricane Gustav.

The work was supposed to be done by now, Judy Constantinides said earlier. Our next concert will be in May, so we should be back in the Recital Hall by that time.

Still, none of this stopped the Sinfoniettas varied program, which offered something for almost everyone.

Violinists Stefka Ilieva and Paris Parachoudis soloed in a seemingly flawless performance of J.S. Bachs Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, as did James Ryon on oboe in G.F. Handels Concerto for Oboe, No. 3 in G Minor. And thats not forgetting violinist Kelly Smith Toneys lyrical performance of J. Massenets Meditation from Thais.

The Sinfonietta also premiered Mikel Ledees Resenator for String Orchestra, which, its concert notes pointed out, is a multi sectional work for string orchestra, which employs familiar and original adaptation of recognizable melodies. One recurring theme was London Bridge Is Falling Down, which played perfectly into the theme of Music for the Young at Heart.

Finally, the Sinfonietta continued its seasonlong commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos with a performance of his composition Two Dances for Kithyra.

And though no one actually hollered Who Dat during the concert, Saints spirit marched from the Superdome into the LSU Choir Room on Sunday by way of Dietz and the LSU Percussion Group.

Posted on January 20th, 2010 by admin
Filed under: NFL football news