Overtures toward another generation

A Hernando orchestra offers a program of classical music that's often heard in contemporary settings.

By Logan Neill, Times Staff Writer
Published February 22, 2008

Music director and conductor Wayne Raymond cites Walt Disney as one of the first filmmakers to use classical music in a format aimed at the general public.
	[Keri Wiginton | Times]

It's difficult to say what makes a classical music piece transcend its era and attach itself to popular culture.

Think about it. What person over the age of 40 can listen to Rossini's overture from the opera William Tell and not think of the Lone Ranger? And how many Fourth of July fireworks shows would dare leave Tchaikovsky's stirring 1812 Overture out of its soundtrack?

Those who catch the Hernando Symphony Orchestra's "Bring on the Overtures" program this weekend are likely to find plenty of recognizable themes to conjure up musical memories. And that's the way music director and conductor Wayne Raymond planned it.

"When it comes to putting together a program, you want to find music that the audience can connect to and that the musicians find challenging as well," Raymond said. "These may be popular themes, but they are also sophisticated to a great degree. That's why people identify with them so much. They've heard this music in everything from TV commercials to movies."

Raymond cites Walt Disney as one of the first filmmakers to use classical music in a format aimed at the general public. His 1930 short film, Barnyard Concert, featured an early version of his Mickey Mouse character conducting an animal symphony using strains from Franz von Suppe's Poet and Peasant overture. Years later, Disney built his entire film, Fantasia, around selected works by Beethoven, Bach, Dukas, Stravinsky and other composers.

Said Raymond: "I think movies have probably done more to spread orchestral music and the sounds of strings, brass and woodwinds to children than anything else."

The orchestra's winter concert series, which begins Saturday night, will include overtures from two popular films, including the sweeping introduction from Pirates of the Caribbean, plus music from the popular Broadway adaptation of Sweet Charity.

Opera themes will be represented as well, including the introduction from Rossini's classic The Barber of Seville and Richard Wagner's lesser-known overture from Rienzi, Last of the Tribunes.

Logan Neill can be reached at lneill@sptimes.com or 352 848-1435.

Check it out

'Bring on the Overtures'

The Hernando Symphony Orchestra will present its winter concert series, "Bring on the Overtures," at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Hernando High School Performing Arts Center in Brooksville and at 2 p.m. Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Springstead Theater in Spring Hill. Tickets are $12 adults, $5 students. Visit the Web site at www.hernandosymphony.com or call (352) 597-9555.

[Last modified February 21, 2008, 20:10:42]