Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmaninoff amongst many other greats came alive Sunday thanks to the musical stylings in OVATIONS Sunday at Dvork Concert Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

OVATIONS featured East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra and Eastern Symphony Orchestra.

In tribute to the late W. David Hobbs, a former Eastern music professor, the Eastern Symphony Orchestra performed “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 26” by Carl Maria von Weber.

Susan Teicher, assistant professor of piano and coordinator of accompanying at Eastern, reminisced on her memories of Hobbs before the performance.

“He was very passionate about what he did. He loved music; he loved the piano. He was a great teacher; he loved his students,” Teicher said.

She described him as an “uncynical” man who worked hard and loved what he did. Hobbs taught at Eastern from 1991 until he passed away 3 years ago.

“He was funny, he had a great sense of humor and he was a great colleague. And I think he would be very happy that we are doing this piece today. This music was probably in his top 5 pieces he loved most in the world,” Teicher said.

Toward the end of Teicher’s speech about Hobbs, she became teary-eyed and said “David, this ones for you,” before exiting off the stage.

In honor of Hobbs, Derek Maninfior, a junior piano performance major, played the piano in place of Hobbs during “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 26” by Carl Maria von Weber.

For the second consecutive year, the East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra performed at Eastern.

During OVATIONS, they performed “Symphony No. 1 in C, Op. 21” and “Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 1” among others.

Between performances the orchestra would get up and change seats. This occurred because everyone is required to play both first and second violin.

OVATIONS also featured the Eastern Symphony Orchestra who performed “Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major; KV 218” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and “Serenade, Op. 35” by Howard Hanson among other songs. Each song featured a different faculty member. Anna Cromwell played violin, Rebecca Johnson played flute and Magie Smith played clarinet.

Meret Kammerling, a freshmen at Centennial High School in Champaign, played the French horn in the Eastern Symphony Orchestra during OVATIONS.

Kammerling auditioned to be part of the Eastern Symphony Orchestra because she wanted the opportunity to play French horn with a variety of people. She found herself happy with the outcome of the performance.

“I think it went pretty well. It’s my first year in the orchestra, so I have nothing to compare it to, but it was pretty awesome in my opinion,” Kammerling said.

OVATIONS concluded with unanimous applauses and standing ovations from the crowd.

Samantha Bilharz can be reached at 581-7943 or slbilharz@eiu.edu

Rebbecca Johnson, a flute instructor for the music department, performs the “Serenade, Op. 35” by Howard Hanson during Ovations in the Dvorak Concert Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center Sunday. (Danny Damiani

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