LETTER: BrightonMusic plans Homespun Concert Feb. 21

Dear editor:

The BrightonMusic Orchestra will present its annual free Homespun Concert at 4 p.m. Sunday at the First Presbyterian Church, 510 South 27thAvenue, Brighton.  The Homespun Concert is a celebration of local creativity, with the entire program made up of original compositions and arrangements by local composers.

 This year, principal conductor/substitute teacher Kat McCusker solicited contributions of original melodies from students in Brighton 27J, Adams 12, and Boulder Valley school districts.  Nineteen responses were selected from children ranging from 9 years old to high-school age.  Each individual melody was then expanded and orchestrated into a short concert piece by one of several resident composers of the orchestra. 

The youngest contributor to the show, Delayni Mahoney, a Thimmig Elementary fourth-grader, had her melody expanded into “Pentatonic Chimetime” for a handbell choir. 

Three Silver Hills Middle School students wrote “Waves,” consisting of two descriptive movements.

“Choppy Waters” and “A Calm Day At the Lake,” will be orchestrated by violist/conductor Geoffrey Lehr and Kat McCusker.  Seven middle-schoolers teamed up to produce the three-movement “6 Bits (3 quarters or three-quarter-time signature)

“Suite,” made up of “Morning Paper,” “Wish in the Fountain,” and “Feeding the Birds,” will be orchestrated by French horn player Marla Seth.  Logan Dawursk, a high-school student, contributed the syncopated “Afterthought”. 

Two middle school boys sent in the opening number, “Sword and Cape,” featuring varied moods and interesting rhythms as orchestrated by Kat McCusker.

 Roughly half of the program is composed by adult musicians.  Kat McCusker’s “Gallagher’s Gait” is a playful depiction of a baby tiger frolicking, then taking a nap, from which he awakens with a roar to frolic again.  She also wrote the lively program-closing piece, “Merry Chase” and orchestrated a G.P. Telemann horn suite.

Violinist Louis Jendras wrote a fun ragtime piece “Prairie Dog Rag,” as well as the “Fugue in G” for string orchestra, and “Ragtime” for brass ensemble.  Longtime Platte Valley Medical Center chaplain Daryl Meyers will appear in a DVD presentation of his original vocal piece “Could It Be”.

 Local Color magazine editor Mark Humbert composed a hilarious spoof on the Olympics, consisting of four short movements: the pompous “Let The Games Begin,” “O Couchpotatia,” “Hail, Hail Beerguzzla,” and “Philbiny National Anthem.”  Bonnie and Steve Simcox join the composer as vocalists to help convey the humor.

The Homespun Concert will be accompanied by a homemade bake sale and an all-comers arts and crafts show, both of which can be visited before and after the concert and during intermission. 

For information about displaying creations in the arts and crafts show, call 303-659-8525.  Admission at all BrightonMusic Orchestra concerts is free.

Bobbette Ranney

Brighton