MSO season opener features Metropolitan Opera soprano Talamantes

NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. – The first concert of the Manchester Symphony Orchestra’s 78th Season showcases Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes.

It is 3-5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, in Cordier Auditorium on the North Manchester campus of Manchester University. 

Talamantes will perform Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville Summer of 1915,” along with Duke Ellington jazz standards from her new album. 

MSO selections also include the overture to Orphée et Eurydice composed by Christoph Willibald von Gluck and Symphony No. 94 in G Major ("Surprise") by Franz Joseph Haydn

This performance is free for MU students, faculty and staff. Admission for the general public is $15.

Those who come early will be treated to a pre-concert conversation including MSO Conductor Humphries, guest artist Talamantes and arranger/composer Henry Dehlinger.  The panel discussion, moderated by Humphries, will center on the history of Samuel Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915. Dehlinger will discuss his thoughts on how and why he arranged/composed the new works for Talamantes. Audience members may ask questions of the panelists.

The MSO and University have a long history together. The symphony way founded in 1939 by residents of Wabash County and what was then Manchester College. That partnership continues today, with a carefully crafted collaboration of professional and community musicians, along with selected faculty, staff, and student musicians from the University. Humphries is an assistant professor at Manchester University.

With about 6,000 residents, the northeast Indiana town of North Manchester is believed to be among the smallest communities in the nation with its own symphony orchestra.

Adams Program Notes by James R. C. “Jim” Adams for this concert. Since 1979, the North Manchester resident has written the program notes for every performance of the Manchester Symphony Orchestra. Adams taught in the MU art, English, music and Spanish departments.

This performance is part of the Values, Ideas and The Arts series at the University.

Prepared with assistance by Sarah Farnam, MU Strategic Communications student assistant.

October 2016