Not Your Grandfather's Orchestra: How South America
is Revitalizing Today's Classical Music Scene
Shipley Recital Hall, Frank Center
Orchestral music from South America is finding a place in today's concert halls alongside the standard European fare that is so common on programs of the last 150+ years. What can this music add to our understanding of music? What elements make it so appealing? Who are the forefathers of this music and who do we look to today? By taking a look at the life and music of Astor Piazzola, we see how his music encapsulates so many of the qualities that the younger generation follows. Contemporary composer Javier Alvarez shows new inspirations and techniques to continue the rise of south american music in the concert halls of serious music. Participants in the forum receive discount tickets to hear the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra perform these two works alongside one of the staples of European masterworks, the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.
Dr. Mark McCoy is the Chair of the Department of Music at Shepherd University and conductor of the Shepherd Wind Ensemble, the Shepherd Orchestra and the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra. Dr. McCoy holds degrees from Shepherd, the Peabody Conservatory and Texas Tech University.
Dr. McCoy is very active as a conductor and guest conductor and has led many county, region, district and all-state groups throughout the US. He has conducted performances of various groups at the invitations of heads of state in Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, France, England, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. His Carnegie Hall conducting debut was in 2005.
Dr. McCoy was the director of Jazz Studies at Shepherd University for ten years. He toured nationally and internationally with his jazz groups, playing for political leaders in the state of West Virginia and in the United States Congress as well as performances in France, England and the Montreux (Switzerland) Jazz Festival in 2003.
Dr. McCoy taught elementary, middle and high school bands and orchestras for many years in West Virginia and Maryland. Dr. McCoy was awarded the "Teaching Excellence" award and was inducted into Pi Kappa Lambda in 1992. In 1998, he was inducted as a "National Arts Associate" by Sigma Alpha Iota for his dedication to excellence in the Arts. He was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi in the Spring of 2000 and Phi Beta Mu in 2004. He was selected to the International Who's Who In Music and Musicians in the classical and light classical fields in 2001, the Who's Who among America's Teachers in 2002 and the Montclaire Who's Who in collegiate faculty in 2010.
He has composed operettas, musicals, an opera, many works for winds and several soundscores. His soundscore for The Secret Garden, and his musical, Anne of Green Gables are available through Baker's Plays/Samuel French and the second edition of his first symphony, A Symphony for Salem, 1692 is now published by C. Alan Publications. He recently completed a novel, Curtain Music, concerning the relationship of Brahms and the Schumanns.