KSU Symphony Orchestra: Brahms, Saint-Saëns, Panufnik

• Jeffrey Lyman, bassoon
• Nathaniel Parker, conductor

Johannes Brahms — Tragic Overture, Op. 81
Andrzej Panufnik — Bassoon Concerto
Camille Saint-Saëns — Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 2

The KSU Symphony begins their 2023-2024 season with a program entitled "Tragedy & Triumph." Brahms's Tragic Overture opens the first half of the program followed by the Bassoon Concerto by Andrzej Panufnik, featuring guest artist Dr. Jeffrey Lyman, professor of bassoon at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. A powerful reflection on the tragedy of political violence, Panufnik's concerto memorializes Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, an anti-communist Polish Catholic priest who was abducted and brutally murdered by Polish secret police in 1984. In contrast, the second half of the program celebrates the triumph of a master composer writing his first symphony. Completed when he was just 18 years old, Camille Saint-Saëns's Symphony No. 1 is full of joy, youthful optimism, and craftsmanship indicative of his future stature as one of the great French composers of the late Romantic Era. KSU director of orchestral studies Nathaniel F. Parker conducts the Brahms and Panufnik; guest conductor Dr. Jacob Harrison, director of orchestras at Texas State University, leads the Saint-Saëns.

About Jeffrey Lyman, bassoon

http://www.jefflymanbassoon.com/

About Nathaniel Parker, conductor

A talented and versatile musician, Nathaniel F. Parker has conducted orchestras in the United States, Peru, Russia, Poland, England, and the Czech Republic. Equally at home working with professionals and training future generations of musicians, Dr. Parker is Director of Orchestral Studies at the Kennesaw State University School of Music—serving as Music Director and Conductor of the Kennesaw State University Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Kennesaw State University Opera Program—and Associate Conductor of the Georgia Symphony Orchestra.