Natchitoches -Northwestern Symphony

The Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra will present its first concert of 2015 on Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Tickets are $10. Northwestern State University, BPCC@NSU and Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts students are admitted free with a current student I.D. Douglas Bakenhus is musical director of the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony.
 
The orchestra will perform “Overture to Nabucco” by Guiseppe Verdi and arranged by Sandra Dackow, “English Folk Songs Suite” by Ralph Vaughn Williams and arranged by Gordon Jacob, the first movement of “Piano Concerto No.2” by Serge Rachmaninoff featuring soloist Elena Bogaczova and “Symphony No. 2” by Ludwig van Beethoven.


Bakenhus calls the work by Verdi “an exciting, fast overture.” He said the group of English folk songs was composed originally for concert band and later for brass band.
 
Bogaczova, a native of the Czech Republic, comes from a family of professional musicians. She currently serves as an instructor of class piano and staff accompanist at Northwestern State. Bogaczova earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree at NSU.
 
“I have been working on getting Elena to perform this work with the orchestra for a while and am glad we will be able to present it,” said Bakenhus.
 
The Beethoven symphony provides a number of contrasts, according to Bakenhus.
 
“He wrote this symphony at a dark time in his life. He had just learned he was losing his hearing and that nothing could be done,” said Bakenhus. “Despite all that, the second symphony is exciting, joyful and at times quite humorous.”