Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--"Tubby the Tuba" will be the premier attraction when the Starkville-Mississippi State University Symphony Association presents a series of children's concerts next month.
Three separate Oct. 9 free concerts will begin at 8:45 a.m. in the Bettersworth Auditorium of Lee Hall, all featuring the 60-piece symphony orchestra. Later, an evening concert--also free--will be repeated for children and adults, with the addition of a variety of adult musical selections.
Children's concerts at 8:45 and 10:20 a.m. and 1 p.m. are geared for students in kindergarten-5th grades.
The 7:30 p.m. children's/adult program, also in Bettersworth Auditorium, repeats "Tubby," but adds guest artists performing works by composers ranging from Mozart to Aaron Copland.
Composed by Paul Tripp and George Kleinsinger after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, "Tubby the Tuba" became an immediate children's favorite and has been translated into more than 30 languages. Today, it is part of the Library of Congress' National Recording Register and is considered one of the nation's audio treasures.
The MSU presentation will be narrated by Diane Williams, arts industry program director for the Mississippi Arts Commission.
Wade Rackley, principal tubist with both the Mississippi Symphony and Starkville-MSU Symphony, will be featured soloist.
The children's events also will feature a brass and percussion fanfare by Vaclav Nalhybel and a guest performance by the Louisville Children's Choir under the direction of MSU graduate Teresia Hollingshed. An added feature will be a special conducting contest for children.
In addition to "Tubby," the 7:30 p.m. Bettersworth Auditorium presentation will feature the symphony and MSU faculty artist Richard Hunan in a performance of Georg Wagenseil's "Concerto for Alto Trombone and Orchestra."
The evening concert also will include the winner and runner-up of the MSU Concerto/Aria competition in an aria and movement of a Mozart piano concerto with the orchestra. Jenny Merry, a senior music major from Florence, Ala., and Katie Wallace, a senior music education major from Starkville, will be featured.
The program concludes with Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait," narrated by Williams. It commemorates the 200th birthday of the nation's 16th president.
For more information, contact Joe Ray Underwood at joeray@colled.msstate.edu; or the MSU music department at 662-325-3070.
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For more about the Starkville-MSU Symphony, visit www.starkvillemsusymphony.org.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.