MSO Presents Final "Let's Talk Music" Lecture of 2015-2016 Season, April 5

Hagerstown, MD– The Maryland Symphony Orchestra, in partnership with the Washington County Free Library, will present the fifth and final lecture in its five-part “Let’s Talk Music” lecture series on Tuesday, April 5, 5:30 p.m. in the Community Room of the Fletcher Library, 100 S. Potomac Street. The guest speaker will be Joseph A. Marschner, Chair of the English and Humanities Division of Hagerstown Community College.

This free discussion precedes the MSO’s final Masterworks Concert of the 2016-2016 Season. George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” will be performed by pianist Thomas Pandolfi, on Saturday, April 9 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 10 at 3 p.m. at the historic Maryland Theatre in downtown Hagerstown. The MSO, under the leadership of Music Director Elizabeth Schulze, will also perform Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 (From the New World), and Dreamtime Ancestors, a new work by American composer Christopher Theofanidis, which was commissioned by 48 regional orchestras (including the MSO) throughout the country.

An assistant professor of music and drama, Marschner earned a Master’s degree in Modern Humanities from Frostburg State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Composition from Shepherd University. He teaches music theory and musicianship classes and often acts as music director and conductor for musical theater productions at HCC. Marschner has also given multiple lectures on opera as part of an opera appreciation series offered by HCC’s Continuing Education Department in conjunction with the Hub Opera Ensemble and the former Baltimore Opera Company. He is a founding member of the Hub Opera Ensemble and was a stage director for their first opera, Handel’s Ariodante in October of 2010.