Illinois Valley Symphony to hold concert

The public is invited to join the performance at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 28 at LaSalle-Peru High School Auditorium.  The c oncert is sponsored by Concert Season Sponsor Central Radio Group, and also by Spring Valley City Bank and Eureka Savings Bank.

Tod Bowermaster, horn, is the concert’s featured soloist. Bowermaster will perform Richard Strauss Horn Concerto No.1. The Horn Concerto No. 1, was composed during the winter of 1882–83 while Strauss was a student at the University of Munich. The horn concerto was originally written for his father, who declared the concerto unplayable, and was thus dedicated to the virtuoso Oscar Franz, who premiered the piece in Dresden one year later. The first horn concerto is extremely difficult and was composed for the waldhorn (forest horn), a natural horn with no valves. The concerto begins with a rousing call based on the notes of the common chord natural to the horn. It is a relatively short work, but long on beautiful melodic subjects.

Bowermaster, a native of Ottawa, is Third Horn of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 1995. Noted for his “gorgeous solo playing” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) and his “golden-honey tone” (Kansas City Star), Bowermaster has appeared as a soloist with the St. Louis Symphony on numerous occasions, and served as Principal Horn for the 2002–2003 season. He has also performed as a soloist with the Honolulu Symphony, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, and many orchestras throughout the Midwest. He has previously appeared with the Illinois Valley Symphony in 1978, 2001, and 2005.

Bowermaster has participated in numerous chamber music festivals nationwide. He currently serves as lecturer of horn at the University of Missouri–St. Louis and maintains an active teaching studio in his home.

Admission to the concert is by season tickets or individual tickets. Season tickets and individual tickets may be purchased on the IVSO website, www.ivso.org.