IVSO concert in La Salle to showcase hometown stars

The spotlight will be on hometown soloists when the Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra takes the stage at 3 p.m. Nov. 5 in La Salle, also featuring the world premiere of a piece by Arlington native Elliot Butler.

“I think sometimes people think orchestra music can be heavy; this is not that kind of a concert – it’s upbeat, it’s exciting,” said Sue Gillio of Oglesby, the principal flutist who will join a fellow soloist, principal oboist Ben Crosby, in a work by Bohemian composer Ignaz Moscheles, a friend of Felix Mendelssohn.

“This is a new piece for Ben and I,” Gillio said. “I think the audience will really like it.”

She has performed internationally, and founded the Music Suite 408 studio in Peru. Gillio is on the faculty of Illinois Valley Community College, and leads the Illinois Valley Flute Ensemble.

A fresh young composer, Butler recently attended the first rehearsal of his new composition, “An Overture to Harmony,” led by the orchestra’s accomplished conductor Dan Sommerville.

“[Sommerville] is a wonderful instructor and really knows what to say to get the most out of his orchestras,” said Butler, a cellist who graduated with a master’s degree in music theory earlier this year.

For his work, Butler said he’s woven into the piece the tuning process players go through before a concert as they attune their instruments to those of the other artists.

“I create a musicalized reenactment of that,” he said, noting he follows the traditionally ordered tuning process in the structure of how the melody gets passed around. Following points of dissonance, “the oboe weaves in and out of the texture before it finishes in this union where every instrument is playing … in tune.”

The playful piece celebrates his love of harmony and creating the style of music he likes to listen to, Butler said.

The concert also features a piece for four horns by Heinrich Hübler. The soloists are IVSO members with impressive credits: principal horn Phillip Lancaster, David Snyder, Christine Hansen and Micah Lancaster (U.S. Army Music Soldier of the Year in 2014).

“[It’s] music that shows the lyrical beauty of the horn and its sheer power,” Sommerville said in a news release, describing the technique required as “impressive.”

Also on the program will be Symphony No. 99 in E-flat by Joseph Haydn, and “Alleluia and Fugue” Op. 40b by Alan Hovhaness.

“It’s kind of a unique concert – really community driven,” Gillio said of the program titled “Be Inspired by Friends!”

Looking ahead, she lets fans know that tickets will sell out for the December performances of “The Nutcracker” ballet, performed by dancers from three dance centers, with a children’s choir and live accompaniment by the orchestra, a rare treat for lovers of Tchaikovsky’s sublime and complex music.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra

WHERE: Matthiessen Memorial Auditorium at La Salle-Peru High School, 541 Chartres St., La Salle

WHEN: 3 p.m. Nov. 5

COST: $20, $5 for college students; free to K-12 students

INFORMATION: ivso.org