Tyler Goodwin-Souffront will be in concert Saturday at Omwake-Dearborn Chapel. — Submitted

Staff reports

 

The instrument that is now called the “French Horn” has a long history of evolving not so much from musical instruments but from the hunting horns used in medieval times to communicate over long distances.

In symphony orchestras such as the Salisbury Symphony, the instrument is now referred to simply as the “horn,” but its appearance in performances still sounds much like it did during those early days of the hunt, echoing across long distances and emphasizing particular passages of music with a nostalgic and emotional significance.

Listeners will have a rare opportunity to experience a program expressly designed to display the wide variety of moods evoked by the French Horn on May 24 when Tyler Goodwin-Souffront performs “Ages and Imagination,” a selection of French Horn solo pieces at Omwake-Dearborn Chapel on the campus of Catawba College at 6 p.m. 

The chapel will be an exquisite setting for a solo performance such as this, with rich audio characteristics only found in large cathedrals and music halls.

Goodwin-Souffront is an accomplished musician and educator who performs with six or more symphony orchestras across Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina including the Salisbury Symphony, as well as a number of smaller brass ensembles, quintets and quartets. He is also a horn instructor at several colleges and teaches in public schools as well.

On Saturday, he will appear with accompanist Grace Berardo, a professional accompanist and vocal coach from the music program staff at Clemson University.

The program Goodwin-Souffront has chosen for this performance is entirely sourced from contemporary composers, and is intended to show the widest range of the performance possibilities of the horn. For example, Paul Basler, the composer of “Serenade,” Goodwin-Souffront’s introductory piece, is currently a professor of music and horn instructor at University of Florida. The other pieces in the performance are compositions by living artists as well, exploring the outer boundaries of the capabilities of both the instrument and the musician playing it.

He will also address the audience to explain the uses of his instrument in compositions and how it fits into the orchestra as a whole, exploring the unique role that the horn plays in orchestra performances. 

Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors and $5 for students, and Symphony Flex-Passes will be honored for the performance.

Tickets are available on the Salisbury Symphony website at salisburysymphony.org and will be sold at the door.