Carson Symphony celebrates 20th season

Staff reports

The Carson City Symphony opened its 20th season Saturday night with a world-premiere performance at the community center auditorium. They played "With Courage and Compassion: A Salute to First Responders," a piece written for the nonprofit symphony by Bruce Craig Roter, of Albany, N.Y.

"It's a celebratory piece," said symphony Conductor David Bugli. It starts with a fanfare in the brass section, then becomes more meditative, he said. "The reflective passage is to honor those who gave their lives in their service to others."

Saturday's performance began with a "meet-the-composer" preview with Roter at 6:45 p.m.

"I wrote the piece as a life-affirming tribute to first responders in the wake of the 9-11 tragedy," said Roter, who was chosen from 39 applicants for the commission. The symphony offered free concert tickets to firefighters, police, EMTs, and their families.

On Tuesday, Roter presented an autographed copy of "With Courage and Compassion: A Salute to First Responders," to a Reno firefighter, a police officer, and a REMSA (Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority) medic at Reno's fire station two. The meeting was set up by Bob Masters, a trumpet player in the symphony and a Reno fire captain. Roter also spoke on KUNR radio while in town.

Sixteen-year-old violist Molly Carr was the guest soloist during Saturday's performance. The home-schooled teen has performed with the Reno Chamber Orchestra and played the second movement of "Walton's Concerto for Viola" on National Public Radio's show "From the Top" last year.

"We're lucky to have her work with us," Bugli said.

The symphony also played "A Romance in F by Max Bruch" and "Andante and Hungarian Rondo," a slow, reflective piece.

Bugli said the Hungarian piece has a strong Eastern European flavor.

"You can almost taste the goulash in it," he laughed.

If you missed Saturday's performance in Carson City, the symphony will be taking the show to Fallon's Oats Park Art Center in December.

"It's a beautiful new theater," Bugli said of the Oats Park center. "Unsurpassed in Northern Nevada." For information on the symphony's schedule or to purchase tickets, call 883-4154.

On The Net

Carson City Symphony or Composer Bruce Roter:

http://members.aol.com/CCSymphony/

http://www.bruceroter.com/