By Staff
March 11, 2001
Guitarist Dr. Miroslav Loncar will be guest artist for Meridian Symphony Orchestra's fourth "The Majesty of Spain" subscription concert.
The program is scheduled for Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Emma McCain Fine Arts Theater at Meridian Community College.
Prior to the performance, Claire Fox Hillard, MSO music director and conductor, and Loncar will present an informative preview of the evening's concert at 7:15 at the Casteel Gallery in the L.O. Todd Library. The two will discuss the evening's music and answer questions from the audience. The discussion is open to the public.
A native of Croatia, Loncar currently resides in Hattiesburg, where he directs the guitar program at William Carey College. He received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Academy of Music in Graz, Austria, where he studied classic guitar with Marga Baumi and Martin Myslivicek. He received his doctor of musical arts degree from USM.
For 15 years, Loncor has been concertizing touring both Europe and the United States. Along with the standard program from J.S. Bach to contemporary Latin American composers, his solo performances also include music from Croatia. In 1999, he gave solo and chamber performances in Chicago and Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Croatian Embassy. In 1992, his presentation on Croatian music was a featured event at the Guitar Foundation of America Festival.
In 1988, Loncar was a national-level finalist in the Music Teacher National Association Wurlitzer Collegiate Artists Competition. In 1985, the Klasinc &Loncar Guitar Duo was selected "Best Guitar Duo" at the International Guitar Competition Toyoko Yamashita in Berlin.
In addition to solo performing, Loncar is active as a chamber musician. The Mississippi Touring Artists Commission has endorsed both of his chamber series the Klasinc &Loncar Duo and Trio Bolero. He has performed in Austria with the Graz Philharmonics and Camerata Academica, and in Croatia with the Zagreb Philharmonics, the Split Philharmonics and the Gaudeamus Chamber Orchestra. He also has collaborated with such conductors as Niksa Bareza, Pavle Despalj and Fabio Luisi.
Loncar has released three recordings a solo album, one with Trio Bolero and another with the Klasinc &Loncar Duo. He has been featured on Public Radio in Mississippi's "Profiles."
Saturday's MSO concert will include works by Manuel de Falla, Joaquin Rodrigo, Joaquin Turina and Juan Crisostomo Arriga.
According to research collected by Hillard, de Falla composed "El amour brujo, 1915," and it was the first version composed between November 1914 and April 1915 as a vehicle for the famous Flamenco dancer, Pastora Imperio.
Rodrigo, who composed "Concierto de Aranjuez, 1939," was blind from the age of 3 and composed the concierto in Paris in 1939. He dedicated it to Regino Sainz de la Maza, who premiered it the following year to immediate critical acclaim.
Turina's "La oracion del torero, 1925" was music that was so popular and overwhelming to him; he promptly scored the expressive music for string quartet and, eventually, for string orchestra.
Arriga, composer of "Symphony in D Major, 1825," was often referred to as a Spanish Mozart. His symphony reflects the lightly textured Italian style of his day and his cast in the traditional, four-movement symphonic mold, much like a Mozart symphony.
Tickets for Saturday's performances are $15, adults; $12, senior citizens/military; and $8, students. Children under 12 are admitted free. Tickets may be purchased at the door.
For more information, call the symphony office at 693-2224 or e-mail mdnsymph@Mississippi.net
Vickie Edwards is a member of Meridian Symphony Orchestra's board of directors. She is director of adult education at East Mississippi State Hospital.