Orchestra of Sandy performing May 7, 8

A concert featuring music of great American and European composers will be performed May 7 and 8 by the Orchestra of Sandy City. The concerts will be held at Good Shepherd Church, 700 East 8600 South, starting at 8 p.m. both nights.

The program will include Samuel Barber's "Overture to School for Scandal," the fourth and fifth movements of Robert Schumann's "Rhenish Symphony," and the third movement from Ludwig van Beethoven's third symphony "Eroica."

Beethoven planned to dedicate the symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte. Biographer Maynard Solomon relates that Beethoven admired the ideals of the French Revolution and Napoleon as their embodiment. However, when Napoleon proclaimed himself Emperor of the French in May 1804, Beethoven became disgusted. Later he changed the title to Sinfonia eroica, composta per festeggiare il sovvenire d'un grand'uomo ("heroic symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man").

Schumann wrote his third symphony "Rhenish" in 1850. The composer was moved by the ceremonial pomp attendant upon the installation of the Archbishop of Cologne, a ceremony immortalized in the fourth movement of the Symphony.

Barber came to International attention when Arturo Toscanini conducted his "Adagio for Strings" with the NBC Symphony in 1938. His "Overture to the School for Scandal" was written at the age of 21 when he was a student at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. The music expresses merriment, shining metallic sonorities and an invigorating rhythmic bounce.

Tickets will be available at the door. Adults are $10, seniors and students $8.