KSU Symphony Concert: Tragedy & Triumph

• Jeffrey Lyman, bassoon
• Jacob Harrison, 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 & 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 Jacob Harrison, conductor

Jacob Harrison is an Associate Professor of Conducting at Texas State University and the Director of the Texas State Symphony Orchestra. He also conducts major student opera productions.

Dr. Harrison holds both the Doctoral of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting and the Master of Music Education degree from Arizona State University. He earned his Bachelor of Music Performance degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He previously served as the director of orchestral activities and taught advanced conducting at Iowa State University. In 2014, Dr. Harrison received two awards for his teaching at ISU, the Early Achievement in Teaching and the Shakeshaft Master Teacher award.

A sought-after conductor, clinician, and educator, Dr. Harrison is a regular guest conductor with professional orchestras, honor ensembles, and music festivals throughout the country.

https://www.music.txst.edu/info/faculty/bios/harrison.html