MONMOUTH, ILLINOIS (February 25, 2025) — Along with a new ensemble, the Monmouth Civic Orchestra will present a concert March 2, 7PM, in the Kasch Performance Hall of Dahl Chapel and Auditorium.
Also performing at the concert, which is free and open to the public, will be The Jammers, a local group featuring community musicians, educators, and students. The group's leader is Jeff Davis, who has worked or performed with several Monmouth College groups, including the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, marching band, and orchestra.
During their portion of the concert, The Jammers will play pop and jazz tunes, both old and new.
Directed by Rich Cangro, the Monmouth Civic Orchestra's selections will be "out of this world" — especially in theme.
On the program are Gustav Holst's "The Planets" (both Venus and Mars, but not The Wings' album Venus and Mars), as well as newer music — Neil Shaw Cohen's "The Sphinx and the Milky Way" and selections by James Horner from the Academy Award-winning movie Apollo 13.
The program notes say that Horner's "music for Apollo 13 is simple, direct, and an eloquent evocation of the personal strength of integrity, knowledge, and bravery of those who made that program a source of national pride."
Also noted is that Holst wrote "The Planets" between 1914 and 1917, while the world was in the throes of World War I.
At the time, Holst was a devoted astrologer, and the astrological significance of the planets in the solar system inspired his composition.
The orchestra's first piece will be "Also sprach Zarathustra, Op 30," a tone poem by Richard Strauss. For many, "Also sprach Zarathustra" was the most memorable feature of Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
