C-U Symphony

for most of last week I was downstate in Urbana-Champaign. The Champaign-Urbana Symphony is celebrating its 50th anniversary this season, and my husband, Paul Vermel, was invited to return and conduct on the first concert of the season. Paul was Music Director and Conductor of the C-U Symphony for 20 years (1974-94) while he was Professor of Music and head of the Orchestral Division at U of I. The program featured a new fanfare, commissioned for the 50th anniversary, a set of English Dances by Malcolm Arnold, the Midsummer Festival by Hugo Alfven, and the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1, with the fabulous young cellist Dmitri Kouzov. Dmitri, who's only 31, was born in St. Petersburg and studied this work with Mstislav Rostropovich, for whom it was written. Great performance!

All of these works were conducted by the Symphony's Music Director, Steve Larson. Paul conducted the four Symphonic Sketches by 19th century American composer George Whitefield Chadwick. They are delightful works, not performed nearly as often as they should be - and the C-U Symphony gave a terrific performance.

Enjoy this performance of the first movement - Jubilee - from Chadwick's Symphonic Sketches.

Carolyn