My wife and I were among the sizeable crowd last night that attended - and thoroughly enjoyed - a Mobile Symphony Orchestra concert at Alabama Southern Community College in Monroeville.The Mobile Symphony normally performs at the Saenger Theatre in Mobile, but they scheduled last night’s free performance in Monroeville thanks to funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. The event was also sponsored by Alabama Southern Community College, the City of Monroeville and the Monroe County Commission.
The theme of last night’s concert was “Love and Literature,” which fit nicely with Monroeville’s official nickname, “The Literary Capital of Alabama,” and the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday.
The concert, which began about 7:30 p.m. and ended just after 9 p.m., featured 16 musical selections, all of which were taken from or based on famous literary works.
Musical selections included two songs from “Carmen, Suite No. 1” by Georges Bizet, “Los Toreadors” and “Aragonaise;” the theme from the movie “Romeo and Juliet” by Nino Rota; two songs from “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein, “Somewhere” and “One Hand, One Heart;” “Dulcinea” from “Man of La Mancha” by Mitch Leigh; “Clarinet Candy” by Leroy Anderson; “All I Ask of You” from “Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd Webber; “Moon River” by Henry Mancini; “I Could Have Danced All Night” from “My Fair Lady” by Frederick Loewe; “So in Love” from “Kiss Me Kate” by Cole Porter; the main title theme from “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Elmer Bernstein; “Bugler’s Holiday” by Leroy Anderson; “If Ever I Would Leave You” from “Camelot” by Frederick Loewe; and “People Will Say We’re in Love” from “Oklahoma” by Richard Rodgers.
Many of these songs featured the vocal talents of soprano Diane Penning and baritone Ken Weber. After the completion of the songs on the program (and a rousing standing ovation from the audience), the symphony closed out the night with a very entertaining final number, “Anything You Can Do” from “Annie Get Your Gun” by Irvin Berlin.
All of the above songs were artfully conducted by the symphony’s music director, Scott Speck. Speck, who introduced each piece with good-natured and often humorous remarks, is a native of Boston and is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Southern California. He is perhaps best known for being the co-author of “Classical Music for Dummies” and “Opera for Dummies.”
A number of my friends attended the event, and they all said that they enjoyed the concert. More than a few of them expressed interest in traveling to Mobile to watch the symphony perform at their home theatre. One upcoming performance described on last night’s program seemed to catch everyone’s eye, a May 7 performance of “The Music of Led Zeppelin,” featuring guest conductor Brent Havens and vocalist Randy Jackson. “A 50-piece orchestra and a full Rock band will perform Led Zeppelin’s classic songs in a brilliant combination of passion and power,” the program said.
In the end, last night’s concert was a hit for the hometown audience, and we may have more concerts to look forward to in the future. On the way out of the auditorium last night, I spoke briefly with Alabama Southern’s president, Dr. Reginald Sykes, who said that the college is looking into the possibility of hosting more events like this in the future.
For more information about the Mobile Symphony, visit its website at www.mobilesymphony.org.
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