The Fort Smith Symphony in Arkansas will open its 2015-16 season with a concert and series of events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. On October 3 at Fort Smith’s ArcBest Corporation Performing Arts Center, Music Director John Jeter will lead “The Greatest Generation,” a program featuring the premiere of Michael Schelle’s Resilience, a double concerto for viola, cello, and orchestra, whose first movement, “Dachaulieder,” is based on a melody composed by a Dachau prisoner. Also on the program will be John Williams’s arrangement of “The Star Spangled Banner” and Copland’s Symphony No. 3. John McManus, author of the forthcoming book The Hell Before Their Very Eyes, about the American liberation of German concentration camps, will give a pre-concert lecture. Before the concert, the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith Jazz Band will perform music from the 1940s in the lobby, which will be decorated with World War II memorabilia and artwork. There will also be performances in Fort Smith public schools during the week leading up to the concert.
Posted July 24, 2015
