Originally, a serenade wasn’t today’s caricature of a song performed for the lady love in her balcony. It started out more broadly as a piece of music performed in the presence of a loved one or a dignitary with the purpose of bringing them honor.

The Mula sem Cabeça, or the Headless Mule, is a dark cautionary tale of a woman who committed sacrilege against the Church by having an affair with a priest. In this variation of the tale, the priest brings her peace by swearing at her seven times before beginning mass.

The song of Uirapurú enchants all who hear it. The theme used here is based on English researcher Dr. R. Spruce’s 1850 bird call transcription of the uirapurú, a small Amazonian songbird.

Iara’s beauty captivates the passions of men, but tragically for them, she is a mermaid who lives in the deep water, and they cannot survive their pursuit of her. In this movement, a man manages to escape her deadly charms at first, but he eventually succumbs, as all have done before him.

The percussion ensemble of the Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra performs the first movement in Ney Rosauro’s Mitos Brasileiros (Brazilian Myths). This movement captures the tomfoolery of Curupira, the Amazonian dwarf with feet that face the wrong way. Curupira makes his appearance halfway through the piece, creating a mess and causing chaos in the musicians’ midst.

Although it had been annexed from Sweden by the Russia Empire in the early nineteenth century, the Grand Duchy of Finland enjoyed a fair amount of cultural and political autonomy.

In this next episode in our “While We Wait” online series, we are thrilled to present the horn players of the IVSO as they perform Lowell Shaw’s toe-tapping Frippery No. 15 with permission from publisher Hornists’ Nest.

This suite of six short dances was composed by Béla Bartók for the piano in 1915 and is based on folk tunes from culturally diverse Transylvania. In 1917 he orchestrated it for a string ensemble, and today we are pleased to present Dr. Daniel Sommerville conducting the Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra Chamber Strings in this tuneful and dramatic set of dances. Kelsey Klopfenstein is featured on the violin in this episode of our “While We Wait Series”.

In our third installment of our “While We Wait” series, we are excited to introduce you to Eric Ewazen’s Eaglehawk, performed by our trombonists Justin Marxman, Andrew Jacobi, and Brandon Jarot.

Newly formed Porch Trio came together for the purpose of contributing to our “While We Wait” series. Donna Martin plays the flute, Sarah Reckmeyer is on the clarinet, and Terri McTaggert, the bassoon. Here they play Bach’s Prelude No. 9 in E Major as well as his Fugue No. 2 in C Minor, pieces originally composed for the keyboard, but easily arranged for woodwind trio.

Concertmaster Chantel Davis leads our Principal Second Violinist Alexa Garza, Principal Violist Kylie Little, and guest cellist Gerardo Pastrana in performing the second and third movements of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11.

The orchestra may be waiting in the wings, but most of us are still making music! Over the next few weeks we’ll be introducing some industrious musicians and sharing their prerecorded presentations in our “While We Wait” web series.