Eastern Connecticut Symphony invites front-line workers to perform with them in “Heroic Celebrations” concert

“Members of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra are inviting all interested front-line workers to join them onstage during their next concert Nov. 20 to sing Josh Groban’s 2003 version of ‘You Raise Me Up,’ ” writes Nancy Burns-Fusaro in Thursday’s (11/11) Westerly Sun (Westerly, RI). “The concert, ‘Heroic Celebrations,’ … will also include ‘Danse Nègre,’ the final movement of Samuel Coleridge Taylor’s ‘African Suite’ of 1898.… Coleridge Taylor studied at London’s Royal College of Music, made three tours of the U.S., and was received at the White House by Teddy Roosevelt. Closing out the first half is the world premiere of Tom Myron’s ‘Bell Harbor,’ the second of the Massachusetts-based composer’s works to be performed by the orchestra, following ‘Katahdin: Greatest Mountain,’ in 2010…. Myron [noted] that he and the orchestra’s conductor and music director, Toshiyuki Shimada, have been ‘great personal friends’ for more than 25 years…. The evening’s concluding work is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5…. Music for ‘You Raise Me Up’ will be distributed in advance to the volunteer singers, along with an audio example…. Front-line workers interested in joining the orchestra will be invited to rehearse with members on the day of the concert.”