Bay Atlantic Symphony performs America's musical heritage

Bay Atlantic Symphony continues its performance series as ensemble-in-residence at Rowan University with Rediscovering America on Friday, January 29 at 8 pm in the university’s Tohill Theatre. A free pre-concert lecture begins at 7 pm.

Under the baton of musical director Jed Gaylin, the concert explores the classical music of America’s heritage. To start the evening, the BAS Brass Quintet joins the Bay-Atlantic Chamber Players in performing works by Eubie Blake, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Leonard Bernstein and John Phillip Sousa, among others. The program concludes with Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring ballet in a world premiere staging choreographed by Joshua Bisset of the Shua Group. Bisset shares a new interpretation of the work, on top of the more abstract conception in Copland’s original version.

This performance of Appalachian Spring has been awarded a designation of an “American Masterpiece” by the National Endowment for the Arts, in conjunction with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, for its scope and originality. The piece was created through a dance intensive at Rutgers Mason Gross Department of Dance in New Brunswick, and funding was provided in part by a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.

Upcoming concerts in the Rowan series are on March 5 (with works by Gershwin, Holst, Tchaikovsky and Mozart) and April 24 (“Retro and Barbaric” with works by Brahms and Revueltas). All concerts are 8 pm.

Bay-Atlantic Symphony is a professional orchestra that offers symphonic and chamber music concerts and sponsors educational experiences for student, adult and special populations throughout southern New Jersey. This region-wide outreach is unique among orchestras the size of BAS, exhibiting the Symphony’s mission of exposing the citizens of southern New Jersey to the beauty and power of classical music through live performance and education.

Thanks to a generous grant from PNC Arts Alive, tickets for all BAS concerts are $25. Admission for Rowan students is free with valid ID. Tohill Theatre is located in Bunce Hall on the campus of Rowan University, Route 322 in Glassboro. For reservations or additional information about BAS concerts at Rowan, call the box office at (856) 256-4545, email arts@rowan.edu.