(Aberdeen, S.D.) The Aberdeen University/Civic Symphony (AUCS) will present “Celebrating Spring” during its Mar. 21, at 4 p.m. in the Johnson Fine Arts Center at Northern State University. The orchestra will be conducted by Dr. Robert Vodnoy, Director of the Orchestra and associate professor of strings, and will feature Kristina Olfert, Kelsey Pickford, and Anne Jundt, winners of the 2010 NSU Concerto/Aria Competition. The program will include music of Grètry, Rameau, Puccini, Krommer and Robert Schumann.

Kristina Olfert, Madison, won the vocal prize at the competition. She is the student of Dr. Darci Bultema. Kristina sang the role of Senora Naccharelli in NSU Musical Theater production of “The Light in the Piazza” earlier this academic year. For the concert, Miss Olfert will sing “O mio babbino caro” from “Gianni Schicchi,” by Giacomo Puccini. “Gianni Schicchi” is a one-act opera and Puccini’s only comic opera. The opera is based on an incident reported in Dante’s “Inferno,” and is a comic interpretation of the story. In the aria “O mio babbino caro,” Lauretta begs her father to forge a will in order for her to have enough money to marry Rinuccio.  According to the opera’s story, Schicchi agrees, forges the will, and ends up in Hell as a punishment.

Kelsey Pickford, Custer, and Anne Jundt, Bismarck, N.D., both students of Dr. Alan LaFave, play clarinet in the Symphonic Band. Miss Jundt is principal clarinet and Miss Pickford is principal bassoon of the orchestra. They will perform the first movement of Franz Krommer’s “Concerto for Two Clarinets in E-Flat Major, Op. 35.” Krommer was a Moravian composer whose life spans death of Handel to death of Beethoven. He was the composer of the Imperial Court of Austria. This double concerto is one of his most popular works.

The featured work for the concert is Robert Schumann’s “Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat Major (Spring).” It was composed in 1841, the year after Schumann married the 20 year old Clara Wieck, the daughter of his piano teacher, who was to become greatest pianists of the 19th century. The orchestra will perform the “Scherzo” and “Finale” from the symphony. The work was Schumann’s first completed orchestral score and was inspired by a series of songs titled “Liebesfruehling (Spring of Love)” which he wrote together with Clara.

The program also includes ballet suites by the Belgian-French Classical composer André Grètry and the French Baroque composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. Portions of these suites were performed by the orchestra as incidental music to the NSU Theater Department’s recent production of “The Three Musketeers”. They will be performed in their entirety on this concert. These charming ballet suites include two Minuets, a Musette, two Tambourins and a Gigue. Both suites were orchestrated by the great 19th century conductor Felix Mottl.

Tickets for the concert are $7 for adults and $5 for senior citizens. Students, including all NSU students, are free. Proceeds benefit the orchestra program and the string program at Northern State University. Tickets will be available at the door. For more information, please contact the Fine Arts Office at 626-2497.

About Northern State University

Northern State University is a premier residential, liberal arts institution characterized by outstanding instruction, extraordinary community relations, and unparalleled co-curricular opportunities. In August of 2009 NSU was again named by U.S. News and World Report as one of the best undergraduate public institutions in the Midwest. For more information about NSU, visit our Web site at www.northern.edu.