NATCHITOCHES – The Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra will debut a work by Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts faculty member Dr. Kenneth Olson Thursday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Tickets are $10. NSU, BPCC@NSU and Louisiana School students are admitted free with a current I.D. Douglas Bakenhus is the conductor. LSMSA will host a pre-concert reception and tour of the new Center for Performance and Technology at 6 p.m.

     The program will also include Schubert's Rosamunde Overture, and Haydn's Symphony No. 104.

     “This is an evening of celebration for the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, Northwestern and the community,” said Bakenhus. “All of the works we will perform are very joyful in keeping with a time of celebration.”

     Olson’s composition Cathedral was inspired by the construction of the new Center for Performance and Technology.
    
     “I began working on it in the Spring of 2008 while the building was going up,” said Olson, who teaches Russian and German. “The idea occurred to me that this could be an opportunity for a celebratory work. We had been waiting for this facility for 20 years and I could help turn it into a celebration.

     “It is difficult to get an orchestra to perform a new work. I am grateful that Doug (Bakenhus) was willing to do perform the piece. It is quite an honor.

     Olson said the audience will find his work easy to follow.

     “It is a new piece, but not modern. It uses interesting instrumentation with drums, gongs and harp as well as the entire orchestra,” he said. “The work is both meditative and monumental. It starts quietly, meditatively and then goes into faster motion. It breaks off into the main part with a continuing, ascending melody then returns to the meditative part.”

     Bakenhus said he was impressed with Olson’s work.

     “It is a very well composed work. Dr. Olson is a very good composer,” said Bakenhus.

     According to Bakenhus, Cathedral evoked the long process LSMSA went through in getting the new Center for Performance and Technology.

     “The opening is desolate and vague, like you are looking for something such as a place to begin,” said Bakenhus. “The work then slowly builds until it gets very busy. Then it is like things disappear. It begins building again with more force then ends in a tightly controlled way.”

     Olson is an active composer and has won several international competitions. He recently wrote works for Northwestern faculty member Paul Christopher and pianist Charles Jones, an LSMSA faculty member and had another piece recorded. Olson said the writing of Cathedral was an enjoyable process.

     “Once I began writing, the composition wrote itself,” said Olson. “I started with an idea and it gave rise to other ideas. I could immediately see where it was going.”

     Olson earned his doctorate at Texas Tech in fine arts and has been an LSMSA faculty member since 1991.

     Schubert's Rosamunde Overture was composed for an opera that was never staged. The composer used it again for a play that has been lost and later used it for another play that was also lost.

     Haydn's Symphony No. 104 was the final symphony written by Haydn when he was in London.

      “Haydn was working with a larger symphony than he was accustomed,” said Bakenhus. “It was an innovative work for its time and was very well received.”