Meridian Symphony Orchestra
Award-winning cellist and composer featured

By Staff
GUEST PERFORMER Patrice Jackson, a 2002 Sphinx Award-winning cellist, will be the guest performer Saturday at Meridian Symphony Orchestra's "Colors of Sound" concert.
By Penny Randall / staff writer
Oct. 26, 2003
The Meridian Symphony Orchestra wants the public to come out and meet a living composer, and experience a night filled with the "Colors of Sound."
The next MSO concert will be Saturday at 8 p.m. in the McCain Theatre on the campus of Meridian Community College. It features 2002 Sphinx Winner, Patrice Jackson, playing the cello.
The final piece of the evening will feature a composition by Mississippi composer Samuel Jones. His work, "Roundings," is based on the Texas New Deal Murals and will feature pre-recorded sounds and unique percussion instruments.
Jones said the piece the Meridian Symphony Orchestra will perform has sights and sounds from his childhood.
Dr. Claire Fox Hillard, MSO conductor, said the audience should look forward to meeting Jones because he is a great living American composer who happens to also be from Mississippi.
This will be the first of three one-week visits Jones plans to make in Meridian. The other are in February and April.
A pre-concert reception will be from 6 p.m.n7:30 p.m. in the art gallery on MCC Campus. The lecture will feature Hillard, Jones and Jackson discussing the pieces that will be performed.
Jones residency is made possible through Music Alive, a program of the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet the Composer. This national program is designed to provide orchestras with resources and tools to support their presentation of new music to the public and build support for new music within their institutions. Funding for Music Alive is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The Aaron Copland Fund for Music.
The Meridian Symphony Orchestra was one of eight orchestras in the United States to receive a $25,000 grant.
Meridian is only the third orchestra in the South to receive the honor others were Mobile Symphony Orchestra, which also received the honor this year; and Albany Symphony Orchestra in Georgia, which was awarded a grant in 2000.
WANT TO GO?
What: Meridian Symphony Orchestra concert
When: Saturday, 8 p.m.
Where: Meridian Community College McCain Theatre
Pre-concert reception: 6 p.m.n7:30 p.m. in the art gallery at MCC. Upbeat! Youth Orchestra will provided entertainment beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets: Adult, $20; over 65, $15; military, $15 (free if in uniform); youth under 18, $8. Groups of 10 or more may receive a discount.
Call: MSO office, 693-2224