By Staff
By DAN PARSONS
Staff Writer
While mothers usually sing to their children, it was they who were honored with song Sunday.
The Beaufort County Community Orchestra put on a Mother’s Day Concert at Beaufort County Community College to show moms the beauty of their love as expressed through a variety of classical pieces. The 30-member orchestra featured 13 different instruments. Concert Mistress Laura Eis thanked mothers in general for their stereotypical insistence on practicing one’s instrument.
The concert opened with a rendition of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Romance in F.” Chris Ellis, who served as conductor for the remainder of the program, took the lead podium with his violin to solo that piece.
Though childless, Beethoven’s appreciation of motherly love emanated from the strings and horns of the orchestra in what amounted to a warm, appropriate opener for a concert to honor mothers.
Following Beethoven was a collection of English folk songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams. A group of young violin students under the direction of teachers Lois Omonde and Dawn Pooser then displayed their talents by playing “Go Tell Aunt Rhody” and Long, Long Ago,” two American folk songs. The group, called the Suzuki Students, included Caitlin Andrews, Amy Arnold, Mary Grace Wilder, Coleman Davis, Aleah Brinn, Emily Hardison, Michaela Barker, Sierra Barker, Maddie Singleton, Kevin Andrews, Tiana Harris, Annabeth Pooser, Caleb Fulfors, Elyse Brinn, Haleigh Barker, Ari Tourlitis and Kristen Marrow.
Four young ballet dancers from the Farmlife Ballet — Anne Blythe Davis, Julian Lukert, Hannah Freste and Margaret McGuire — then took the floor to perform the 10th scene from Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” with accompaniment from the orchestra.
The audience was then encouraged to dance in the aisles during “Tale from the Vienna Woods” by Johann Strauss Jr., followed by “Polka” from suite II for small orchestra by Igor Stravinsky and selections from “Oklahoma” by Roger and Hammerstein.