The Morgantown Community Orchestra, conducted by Alejandro Pinz�n and made up of students in West Virginia University’s Community Music Program and Morgantown-area musicians, will perform a concert at the Creative Arts Center, Sunday, April 29.

The program titled “Noche Latina” (Latin Night) begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Antoinette Falbo Theatre and is free and open to the public (donations accepted).

It will feature Dr. Mikylah McTeer, violinist of the WVU School of Music faculty, as well as a special appearance by student Rafael Langoni Smith and his Brazilian piano.

Langoni Smith is a music student from Brazil who is currently studying at WVU as part of the College of Creative Arts Music Alive! exchange program with Brazil.

The full program includes: “A Motu Yaney” (Chilean Mapuchina) by Fernando Lecaros (b. 1944); “B�same Mucho” by Consuelo Velazquez (1916-2005) with Dr. Mikylah McTeer, violin; “Te Quiero Dijiste” by Mari�a Grever (1894-1951), also with McTeer; Excerpts from “Microsuite” by Salvador Marti�nez; “Habanera” from Act I of “Carmen,” by Georges Bizet (1838-1875); and “Dance! Latin Style” by I. O. Lorro.

The Morgantown Community Orchestra has existed since the late 1970s under various names. Just recently, the name was changed from the Community Arts Orchestra to the Morgantown Community Orchestra.

“Lately, the orchestra is going through a very important moment in its history and a real rebirth,” said Pinz�n. “Among other important developments, our membership borders 45 people and keeps growing. We have a website, Facebook page, a listserv account to communicate to the WVU campus, and we’re starting partnerships with other areas of WVU.

“Our past concerts have been attended at full capacity, and we’ve commissioned new works written specifically for the Morgantown Community Orchestra,” he said.

“This semester we’re even taking on the adventure of performing a ‘tour’ concert at Waynesburg University in Pennsylvania, on April 28, before our main event on April 29 at the Creative Arts Center.

“For these concerts, we have Dr. McTeer as our guest soloist on the violin, and for our upcoming Chamber Concert in October 2012, I recently booked Mr. Jia-Yi He, virtuoso harmonica player, who will come from New York to play with us.”

Pinz�n is a young and versatile Mexican musician. He is also conductor of the String Studio and String Ensemble at Waynesburg University in Waynesburg, Pa., and is former choir director of the Coro Latinoamericano – Pittsburgh, with whom he presented several concerts and programs to share the music and cultures of Latin America in the Western Pennsylvania region. He is currently completing his doctorate in conducting in the WVU School of Music.

The “Latin Night” concert at the Creative Arts Center is sponsored by “Rio Grande #3,” a popular Morgantown-area Mexican restaurant.

For more information about the Morgantown Community Orchestra, see the website: http://music.wvu.edu/mco.

For more information, contact the College of Creative Arts at (304) 293-4359.

-WVU-

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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