Music department stages showcase concert
Flathead High School presents a music department showcase concert Tuesday.
“The Wheel of Fortune” starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Flathead High auditorium. The concert is free and will last about an hour.
The program features Flathead’s three premier performing groups, the Symphonic Band, Chamber Orchestra and Concert Choir, playing separately and all together.
“It will be a powerful show — nearly 150 of our best high school musicians joining forces to produce one of the most popular choral-orchestral moments of all time,” said Kevin Allen-Schmid, Flathead choral director.
That musical moment is the opening to Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” The first movement of this modern rendering of medieval texts is titled “O Fortuna” in Latin, and the lyrics depict the whimsy of fate, as it lifts some up to glory while crushing others to oblivion.
“It’s a classic and bombastic sound that everyone recognizes instantly,” said Allen Slater, Flathead band director. “The music from ‘Carmina Burana’ or spin-offs of that iconic sound, have been used in countless movies and commercials, from horror flicks to ‘Conan the Barbarian.’ It’s a lot of fun to sing and play, and really shows off the extended ranges of our student musicians.”
Each of the three groups will also be heard separately, playing pieces they have polished while on the road this year.
At their recent Class AA festival in Billings, the Flathead orchestra perfected their parts to the symphonic suite from “The Lord of the Rings,” which they will perform together with the Flathead Band to fill out the full orchestra sound with brass, woodwinds and percussion. The women of the choir chime in at the end with the well-known Shire theme song, “In Dreams.”
The men of the concert choir, inspired by their recent tour to Portland where they saw the touring Broadway production of “War Horse,” will sing a song from that show, appropriately called “The Wheel of Fortune.”
“It has the same name as the Carmina Burana piece,” explained choir tenor Cody LaPorta, “but it’s totally different — it’s an a cappella men’s folk ballad. We love singing ‘The Wheel of Fortune,’ because the harmonies ring right in that upper to high range where we can really project our voices.”
One of the band’s featured selections is “Yes, I Want To Crossover,” by local composer Craig Naylor, who advised them on his creation.
“What a great opportunity for our kids to work with the composer of a piece and learn about how a complex work is conceived, written and produced,” Slater said.