What's Happening in Colchester, VT…

A concert to coincide with a spectacular natural event is on the schedule in Colchester.

The Vermont Symphonie Winds will be giving a “PreClipse” concert at the Elley Long Music Center, with music director Lisa Jablow on the podium. The concert selections are designed to complement the upcoming solar eclipse on April 8.

The out-of-this-world program presents a complete performance of an extremely popular work, “The Planets” by Gustav Holst. The work is an orchestral suite with seven movements, which Holst composed between 1914 and 1917. Each movement is named after one of the planets in the Solar System, except there is no movement for the Earth, and Pluto wasn’t discovered until 1930. (Pluto has since been “demoted” to the status of “dwarf planet.”) Each of the movements portrays the astrological character of the planet.

The first movement is the discordant “Mars, the Bringer of War,” followed by “Venus, the Bringer of Peace.” Then comes the fast-moving “Mercury, the Winged Messenger.” Next is the exuberant “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” followed by “Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age” which rises to a monumental climax then fades away. “Uranus, the Magician” follows, then comes “Neptune, the Mystic.” A woman’s chorus sings in “Neptune,” the only vocal music in the piece. The chorus here will be Bella Voca, a Vermont women’s chorus.

The PreClipse concert is planned for March 13 at 7.00 pm. Organizers of events like this will often use poster printing to create advertising.