Conductor of 24 years to step down after Symphony Orchestra concerts

After 24 years at the baton, Brigham Young University-Idaho Symphony Orchestra conductor Kevin Call will step down following one of the orchestra's most challenging concerts.

The orchestra will perform Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 3, the "Song of Creation," Dec. 7 and 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Barrus Concert Hall of the Snow Center for the Performing Arts in Rexburg.

"It's big and it's hard and it's beautiful," Call said. "It's creation to exaltation." Mahler's work is also very challenging. "It takes real musical maturity and so many resources," he said.

Written by Gustav Mahler, the music is a progressive symphony of six movements, each movement representing a different segment of the creation of the earth.

The symphony will not be entirely instrumental. In the fourth movement, titled "What the Night (Man) Tells Me," Rebecca Wascoe, a one-year vocal hire at BYU-Idaho, will sing. A children's choir, directed by Nancy Hopkin and made up of children from Rexburg, will participate in the fifth movement, which Mahler has named, "What the Morning Bells (Angels) Tell Me."

The BYU-Idaho Women's Choir will also contribute to the fifth movement. Eda Ashby, director of the choir, said that the piece the women are singing have some interesting harmonies.

"Instead of three parts or four all the way through, it varies all the time," she said.

Tickets for the concert are $3 for BYU-Idaho students and $6 for general public and can be purchased in the Ticket Office or online at www.byui.edu/tickets.

Beginning in Winter Semester, Robert Tueller of Rexburg will assume the position of conductor of the orchestra. Call will continue to serve as associate dean for the College of Performing and Visual Arts and to teach in the Department of Music.