A musical marriage has been made and will be celebrated Sunday afternoon.
“Lone Raven and the Central Ohio Symphony have tried to arrange a concert together for a few years. This is the first time we have been able to make schedules meet. We are pleased to work together. They are a popular group locally,” Symphony Executive Director Warren Hyer said.
The Central Ohio Symphony will present its annual holiday concerts on Sunday, Dec. 11, at 2 and 4:30 p.m. in the festively decorated Gray Chapel on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University. The orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Jaime Morales-Matos, will perform two identical concerts of seasonal music.
Lone Raven is a renowned Celtic band that performs in Ohio and neighboring states. This is the band’s first time performing with a symphony.
“This is new for them, our audience and the Symphony,” Hyer said.
To make this happen, the symphony needed to take Lone Raven’s music and make individual parts for every instrument in the orchestra. This is where Dr. Jennifer Jolley at Ohio Wesleyan University and two of her students contributed.
“They took the Lone Raven parts and turned them into parts for orchestra for 59 musicians and the conductor, for four different pieces of music. They did an excellent job,” Hyer said.
Jolley said Jake Simpson and Alan Klinect worked on the project for about a month.
“It’s a very exciting time for them. This is the first time a professional orchestra will perform work that they did,” said Jolley, assistant professor of music at OWU.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for my students,” she said.
Craig Markley of the four-member group Lone Raven is looking forward to the performance.
“It should be an interesting program. It’s a little different scenario,” Markley said. “Usually an orchestra will have a soloist or a vocalist perform. Here we are going in as an ensemble and we will do four pieces with the symphony.”
Markley said Lone Raven performs what he calls “Celtic/Gypsy music.”
He said his band will do holiday selections in addition to its traditional Irish pieces.
“We use multiple ethnic instruments. It should be entertaining for the people,” he said.
