“Dan Locklair’s Hues (for Orchestra) is just gorgeous and a lot of fun to play.” Amanda Preston, violist of the Davidson College Symphony Orchestra (and Music Department Production and Promotion Assistant), gives a glimpse into rehearsals for the school’s upcoming February 21 concert. Music director Tara Villa conducts the three-movement, 12-minute work.
Preston continues, “Hues is definitely challenging and keeps the orchestra on its toes with all the meter changes and idiosyncrasies, but it’s worth the work. It’s also quite refreshing to work on a piece that is so different from most of the canon we normally perform. Hues is a good mix because it’s new and innovative, but isn’t so unconventional that it’s too much to handle and enjoy. Hues plays into the strengths of an orchestra with a strong conductor and lets the musicians really shine as an ensemble.”
“It’s even more special,” Preston adds, “as Dan Locklair lives just an hour away from Davidson’s campus. It’s a great opportunity to work on pieces by living composers. We’re eager (and nervous!) to have the chance to meet him, perhaps even have him come to a rehearsal and our performance. I would only hope all our rehearsal and practice time would do his composition the justice it deserves!”
Upcoming Locklair news:
This spring, the Eppes String Quartet (Florida State University) premieres the composer’s Two Transcendental Odes in Tallahassee, FL. In May, the City of Winston-Salem, NC celebrates its centennial with the premiere performances of its commissioned-work Hail the Coming Day, performed by the Winston-Salem Symphony. Robert Moody conducts.