The Lakeland Civic Orchestra will present “Shall We Dance?” as their first concert of the spring season Sunday, March 4, at 4 p.m. in Lakeland’s Dr. Wayne L. Rodehorst Performing Arts Center in the D-Building D on the main campus at 7700 Clocktower Drive, Kirtland, 44094.

Tickets are available at the door, or by calling the Lakeland Box Office at 440.525.7134. Tickets are $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and $2 for students. Tickets are also available online by visiting lakelandcc.edu/arts.

For the first performance, dancers from the Fine Arts Association Dance Factory Senior Dancers will partner with the Lakeland Civic Orchestra in the presentation of Aaron Copland’s “Variations on a Shaker Melody.” Copeland, known as the “Dean of American Composers” is revered for his suite of music that was masterfully paired with ballet. The dance routine is being choreographed by Dance Factory Director Rebecca Sanders.

Next, in the concert will be a highlight of the talents of 12-year-old cellist Laura Schilz in the presentation of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Cello concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33. Saint-Saëns’ single movement is one of his many works that promote the cello as the solo instrument. Laura Schilz is the Junior Division winner from the 2017-2018 Lakeland Young Artists Concerto Competition, an event that has been recognizing excellence in youth performers for over 20 years. Schilz began her cello training at age three at the Sato Center for Suzuki Studies at The Cleveland Institute of Music. She has performed in recitals, concerts and at festivals and has won other competitions as well as Principal Cellist honors. Schilz is a seventh-grade student at Laurel School and studies under Martha Baldwin.

The concert will also feature the music of award-winning composer Margaret Brouwer, a former head of the composition department at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Brouwer has received numerous honors, grants, fellowships and commissions for her compositions. The civic orchestra will present Brouwer’s “Pulse.”

The concert will finish with Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759, “Unfinished” in its two-movement form. Schubert, composer of symphonies, operas, secular works, sacred pieces and chamber and piano music is one the greatest composers from the eras defined as late Classical and early Romantic. His works gained more notice after his death and are now some of the most frequently presented pieces in modern times.

The Lakeland Civic Orchestra is directed by Dr. Matthew Saunders, who is a professor of music and chair of the music department at Lakeland Community College. Saunders is in his sixth season as director of the Lakeland Civic Orchestra, and his original compositions have been performed throughout the United States and internationally.

About the civic music programs

Lakeland Community College provides community members the opportunity to express and advance their talents by performing in four music groups: the Lakeland Civic Band, the Lakeland Civic Chorus, the Lakeland Civic Jazz Orchestra and the Lakeland Civic Orchestra.Additionally, the college offers talented high school students Jazz Impact, an all-star high school music group.

For more information about the civic music groups and auditions, contact Jeri Lynn Pilarczyk in the arts and sciences division at 440.525.7261 or email jpilarczyk5@lakelandcc.edu

Lakeland Community College is located at the I-90 East/ Route 306 exit. Free parking is available.

By: Jeri Pilarczyk, Marketing Communications Spcls