Orchestra concert April 24

The Cornell College Orchestra will perform in a concert on Friday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m. in King Chapel. The concert is free and open to the public. The concert will be guest conducted by R. Joseph Dieker, vice president for Academic Affairs, dean of the college, and professor of music at Cornell.

The concert will feature orchestral works from the 19th and early 20th centuries, including Gioachino Rossini’s “Overture to the Barber of Seville,” Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Danse Negre,” and Johann Strauss’ famous waltz “By the Beautiful Blue Danube.” The largest piece featured on the program is by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. His “American Suite” is a five-movement piece combining Dvorak’s characteristic folk rhythms with inspiration he drew from the years he spent composing, teaching, and conducting in America from 1892-95. Dvorak spent part of the summer of 1893 living with the Czech community in Spillville, Iowa, just north of Mount Vernon, Iowa, as it happens, hearing folk music of both Czech and American origin, which provided inspiration for a number of his composition, including the very famous “Symphony from the New World.”

Dieker brings to the podium more than 25 years of experience as a conductor of bands and orchestras. His experience includes serving as director of bands at Warner Pacific College and Culver-Stockton College, conductor of the Quincy Illinois Youth Symphony, and numerous guest conducting experiences with university and professional ensembles. He is delighted to serve as guest conductor of the Cornell College Orchestra during Martin Hearne’s sabbatical.