November 22, 2012
For Immediate Release

University Marketing & Communications: Mike Rigert (801) 863-6807
Written by: Jim Rayburn (801) 863-8504

Two of Utah Valley University’s top musical groups will combine Nov. 30 for a 7:30 p.m. patriotic concert at the Covey Center for the Arts in downtown Provo, Utah.

More than 100 musicians from the UVU Symphony Orchestra and Masterworks Chorale will combine to perform pieces in a “tribute to freedom and providence.”

“The works in this program pay tribute to two central qualities of our American culture and thought — freedom and providence,” said Cheung Chau, a UVU assistant professor of music. “Anyone who wants to see patriotism resonated by choir and orchestra will want to attend this performance.”

The UVU Symphony Orchestra is comprised of instrumental music students and performs both at on- and off-campus venues. The Masterworks Chorale is UVU’s largest auditioned choir, with around 80 singers. This choir specializes in choral literature and frequently shares the stage with the Utah Valley Symphony and UVU’s Chamber and Symphony orchestras.

The Symphony Orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky’s “Fifth Symphony.” Then the Masterworks Chorale and Symphony Orchestra will combine for Mozart’s “Ave verum corpus” and two selections by Aaron Copland, “The Promise of Living” from “The Tender Land Suite” and “Canticle of Freedom.”

“Composed during the McCarthy purge of communists in the 1950s, Copland’s ‘Canticle of Freedom’ is a reminder of the virtue of freedom. Tchaikovsky described his ‘Fifth Symphony’ as a work extolling providence. The work was most notably performed during the Siege of Leningrad as an inspiration to uplift the spirit of its citizens and echoed the eventual success towards the lifting of one of the history’s most destructive sieges. ‘The Promise of Living’ portrays a search for personal freedom from traditions, and Mozart’s ‘Ave erum corpus’ speaks of Christ’s sacrifice for human kind and the providence of the human race,” Chau said.

Tickets are available online at www.coveycenter.org. The Covey Center for the Arts is located at 425 W. Center Street in Provo.

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About UVU

Utah Valley University is located in Orem, Utah and is home to more than 30,000 students. UVU began as a vocational school during World War II, and in the seven decades since has evolved into a technical school, community school, state college and, finally a comprehensive regional teaching university. UVU is one of Utah’s largest institutions of higher learning and offers programs ranging from career training to high-demand master degrees, with emphasis on undergraduate education.