Kerstin Allvin (left) and Jung Wha Lee, who make up the Arianna Harp Duo, also have careers as international soloists and orchestra members.
The Dearborn Symphony will feature two local composers and the Arianna Harp Duo in its concert at 8 p.m. Friday at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave. in Dearborn.
The concert will feature a mix of American music that includes works by two composers with local roots, beginning with the rousing “Finale” from “Symphony No. 2” by Steven Errante, who was born and raised in Dearborn.
An active composer and arranger, Errante studied composition and conducting at the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School and wrote the score for the Boar’s Head Festival performed annually in Dearborn and Detroit since 1972. He has been conductor of the Wilmington Symphony and a member of the University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Music faculty since 1986.
“Island Dances for Two Harps and Orchestra” was written by acclaimed Detroit-born composer James Hartway, professor of Music and Director of Music Composition and Theory at Wayne State University.
Hartway has composed more than 90 works, including orchestral, opera and choral pieces, concertos, chamber and solo works that have won numerous awards and honors. Praised as being “expressive, thoughtful and accessible,” his music has been performed and recorded around the globe.
The Arianna Harp Duo — Kerstin Allvin and Jung Wha Lee —will be featured on “Island Dances,” a vivid and colorful work filled with Caribbean rhythms.
Next up is music by Grammy-nominated Christopher Theofanidis, who wrote “Rainbow Body” in 2000 for the Houston Symphony, where it received a standing ovation at its premiere. In 2003 Theofanidis won the London Masterprize competition for the piece. “Rainbow Body” not only won the competition, its colorful and lush writing caught the ear of conductors everywhere, catapulting it to more than 100 performances by orchestras internationally in the last 11 years.
The concert ends with the ever-popular “Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo” by Aaron Copland, America’s quintessential composer. One of Copland’s most popular works since its premiere by the Boston Pops Orchestra in May 1943, the story is about a cowgirl trying to attract the romantic attentions of a cowboy. Copland’s American Wild West masterpiece is based on fiddle and dance tunes, railroad and cowboy songs.
Tickets ranging from $30 to $15 are available by calling the Dearborn Symphony at (313) 565-2424 or the theater box office at (313) 943-2354. Go to www.dearbornsymphony.org for more information.
The concert will be preceded at 7 p.m. by an insightful and humorous free preview of the evening’s music by James Walters, a musician and Dearborn music teacher.
For a complete night on the town, the Dearborn Symphony has partnered with local restaurants to offer a 20 percent diners’ discount for symphony ticket-holders on concert nights. Participating restaurants are Andiamo Dearborn, Crave (25 percent off), Kiernan’s Steak House and Silky’s, La Pita, Ollie’s, The Dearborn Inn, and The Henry.
The concert is made possible by Friends of the Dearborn Symphony (formerly Women’s Association for the Dearborn Orchestral Society). Patrons are invited to meet the artists at the afterglow made possible by Ronald Pruette from Peninsula Wealth Management — UBS Financial Services Inc.