PEORIA, IL -- The Heartland Festival Orchestra's venture into pop/rock music, at the Peoria Civic Center's ballroom on January 25, was a mixed event.
The program, A Tribute to Tina Turner, had this fine orchestra playing songs Turner made famous, with three rock singers performing them. They danced as they sang, and the audience gave them strong applause,
Well, it was not Beethoven or Bach, or even a modern composer like Gershwin or Philip Glass. In a WCBU radio interview, artistic director/conductor David Commanday said the Turner program was a prepared package that became available.
Listening closely to this music reveals its weakness -- while it's sort of melodic it's also very repetitive with the same phrases repeated over and over and over. It lacks the complexity of traditional classical music. It may have been around for half a century but won't be noticed in another century.
The nightclub table setting in the ballroom was fine with two big screens on the orchestra, the performers and stage. Drinks were available for purchase. That helped!
-- Elaine Hopkins
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