‘Dialogue with Dan’ on Monday

Dan Allcott, music director of the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association and conductor of the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, will speak at noon Monday in the lobby of the historic Grove Theater, High Places Community Church. This will be the fourth “Dialogue with Dan” of the concert season.

His topic will be the “Spring in the Mountains” ORSO-Chorus concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Mar. 9, at Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center. The featured artist will be Stephen Seifert, mountain dulcimerist from Tennessee, in keeping with the ORSO season theme—“Tennessee Sounds Good to Me.”

Seifert’s teaching and playing has made him a favorite with dulcimer players all over the country since 1991. He has been a featured performer at hundreds of dulcimer festivals and other music events in that time.

Seifert has been a dulcimer soloist with Orchestra Nashville since 1996. He was adjunct instructor of mountain dulcimer at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music from 1997 to 2001.

He has authored 10 books, four CDs, and 16 instructional videos. Most recently, he has been teaching hundreds of students around the world through http://dulcimerschool.com.

With Seifert playing the dulcimer, ORSO will perform “Blackberry Winter,” a concerto for mountain dulcimer and string orchestra by Conni Ellison, a professional musician in Nashville. She is a composer, arranger, and performing violinist.

“In her concerto, Ellisor has fused the influences of her Tennessee roots into a unique classical style,” Allcott said.

The Oak Ridge Chorus will sing “The Bell Witch,” a cantata written in 1947 at Yale University by the late Charles Faulkner Bryan, a Tennessee native son born in McMinnville.

“Bryan was a rising star when his life was cut short, but not before his cantata on the Tennessee tale of the Bell Witch was premiered by Robert Shaw at Carnegie Hall in 1947,” Allcott noted.

Soloists from the Chorus will be Lindsay Slaughter, soprano; Jesse Nance, alto; Kevin Salter, tenor; Josh Voiles, baritone, and Dave Dunkirk, bass.

ORSO will open the concert with “Symphony No. 5” (1816)
 by Franz Schubert (1797-1828). The concert is dedicated to the memory of John George Million Jr., who left a significant gift to ORCMA.

Reservations for the Dialogue with Dan lunch from Panera Bread at a cost of $8.50 should be made before noon Sunday, Mar. 3. Contact Connie Smith at (865) 482-9482 or [email protected] or ORCMA at 483-5569 or [email protected].

Reserving a box lunch is optional, but a $2 donation for the room is encouraged.
ORCMA will supply beverages.

The Grove Theater lobby will open at 11:30 for a social time. Reserved box lunches (turkey, ham and cheese, or vegetarian sandwich, pickles, chips, cookie) will be delivered at 11:45 a.m. Allcott will begin his presentation on the concert program at noon and entertain questions and respond to comments.

Tickets for the Mar. 9 concert can be purchased at the door for $25 (adult), $10 (college students 19 years or older, with ID) and $5 (students 18 years and younger).

To become a new subscriber for the rest of the season at a discount or buy four concert tickets at a $40 discount, call the ORCMA office at (865) 483-5569. Schedule and ticket information is available on ORCMA’s website at www.orcma.org.