Gateway Chamber Orchestra earning high marks for second album
February 10, 2013
Clarksville, TN – Last spring, Clarksville’s Gateway Chamber Orchestra quietly released its second album, “Chamber Symphonies,” featuring works by Romanian composer George Enescu and Austrian composers Franz Schreker and Arnold Schoenberg.
The group, made up of Austin Peay State University music faculty and other professional musicians, then took some time off for the summer break. When they returned to Clarksville last fall, the orchestra quickly set to work on one of its most ambitious seasons yet.
Gateway Chamber Orchestra – “Chamber Symphonies”
Gateway Chamber Orchestra to hold “Heavenly Strings” Concert February 11th
January 25, 2013
Clarksville, TN – In the late 1930s, the American composer Samuel Barber created a work for string quartet with a slow, hauntingly beautiful second movement.
That section of the composition proved to be so powerful that Barber soon arranged that movement as a complete work for an expanded string orchestra.
Gateway Chamber Orchestra
Gateway Chamber Orchestra recognized on 55th Annual Grammy Awards nominees list
December 10, 2012
Clarksville, TN – On Wednesday night, following a nationally televised concert in Nashville, the nominees for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards were announced.
Near the very bottom of that list of nominees, available online at www.grammy.com/nominees, was the category for “Producer of the Year, Classical,” and the name Blanton Alspaugh.
Gateway Chamber Orchestra – “Chamber Symphonies”
Celebrate holidays at APSU with “Clarksville in Vienna” concert on December 9th
November 26, 2012
Austin Peay State University
Clarksville, TN – For more than 100 years, the Vienna Philharmonic has set aside New Year’s Day as a time to perform uplifting holiday pieces by Johann Strauss and his family.
It has become one of the great traditions in all of music, earning a sizable television audience in America in recent years, but a new, similar tradition has taken hold in Clarksville.
For the last three years, Dr. Gregory Wolynec, professor of music at Austin Peay State University, has brought the festivities to town a little earlier with the APSU Symphony Orchestra’s annual “Vienna in Clarksville: A Holiday Celebration” concert. [Read more]
Gateway Chamber Orchestra and Chorus to perform “Winter Baroque” concert December 2nd
November 24, 2012
Clarksville, TN – In 1731, the German composer Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his Sacred Cantata No. 4, also known as “Sleepers, Wake,” to be performed on the 27th Sunday after Trinity.
It’s a remarkably beautiful piece from the Baroque era, but the timing of its performance was a bit unfortunate.
Gateway Chamber Orchestra
Music and visual art blend in Frankenstein!! Concert at APSU on October 1st
September 20, 2012
Clarksville, TN – Several times during the conversation, the name Leopold was whispered. The three Austin Peay State University professors were referring to a fictional character played masterfully by Bugs Bunny in the 1949 Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoon “Long-Haired Hare.”
Barry Jones, APSU associate art professor, spoke in a quiet, reverential tone when mentioning the name. Kell Black, art professor, said it a bit more forcefully. But it was Dr. Gregory Wolynec, professor of music and conductor of the Gateway Chamber Orchestra, who almost shouted the name with gusto. He has a special fondness for the character since Bugs Bunny is in fact impersonating the famed British conductor Leopold Stokowski. [Read more]
Gateway Chamber Orchestra Begins New Season with New Identity
August 20, 2012
Clarksville, TN – The Gateway Chamber Orchestra, which kicks off its third subscription season at 7:30pm on August 30th, can’t be accused of lacking ambition.
“Our goal is to be one of the world’s great chamber orchestras,” Dr. Gregory Wolynec, the ensemble’s conductor, said recently. “There is a great symphony orchestra, the Nashville Symphony, 45 minutes down the road. We offer something different. The energy and spirit of this group has been just magical.”
Gateway Chamber Orchestra
APSU Wind Ensemble concert to include performance of “Star Wars” film score
April 24, 2012
Austin Peay State University
Clarksville, TN – Dr. Gregory Wolynec’s taste in classical music can at times be described as a bit esoteric. The Austin Peay State University associate professor of music enjoys seeking out lost masterworks or underperformed pieces by the world’s great composers.
The students who make up the APSU Wind Ensemble know this about their professor and conductor, so they were a bit confused when he handed out the sheet music for their next performance. The words “Star Wars” were printed at the top of the page. [Read more]
Fort Campbell’s 4th Brigade Combat Team “Whiskey Company” gets visit from Army Chief of Staff General Raymond T. Odierno
April 15, 2012
Austin Peay State University
Clarksville, TN – In March of 2011, an obituary appeared in the New York Times announcing the death of the great American composer Lee Hoiby at the age of 85.
The article championed his career, mentioning such notable works as his 1964 opera “Natalia Petrovna,” but for those who knew Hoiby, his death left something unfinished – an unperformed flute concerto he wrote 17 years earlier.
APSU's Gateway Chamber Orchestra presents world premiere of famed composers work
February 26th concert to showcase Clarksville’s newest semi-professional Gateway Choir
February 24, 2012
Clarksville, TN – The city of Clarksville is deceptively large. Sure, there’s the small town charm of Franklin Street and the local university, but spread over about 95 square miles, more than 130,000 people call the city home. For a couple of faculty members in the Austin Peay State University music department, that makes Clarksville large enough to need certain cosmopolitan attractions.
“We feel Clarksville should have an orchestra of its own, and there should be a choral component to go along with that,” Dr. Gregory Wolynec, APSU associate professor of music, said. [Read more]
