This program will include music with a Spanish and Mexican flair, and will showcase Manuel Ramos in Lalo's dazzling "Symphonie Espagnole" for solo violin and orchestra. The concert will take place at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 22 in Academic Auditorium on the Southeast campus. This concert is the first of five concerts the Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra will present throughout the year in its Commerce Bank Concert Series 2002-2003.

The program will open with a tribute to the spirited, joyous Mexican folk music in Creston's "Night in Mexico." Based upon Mexican themes and dance rhythms, this delightful opener will set the mood for the evening's program. Also on the first half of the program is Massenet's "Ballet Music from 'Le Cid.'" Massenet wrote an opera, "Le Cid," which is set in Spain. It has an extended ballet sequence of Spanish dances, which were arranged by Massenet in the suite of dances to be heard on the Oct. 22 program.

The second half of the program will feature Manuel Ramos as soloist in the exciting "Symphonie Espagnole" by French composer Edouard Lalo. This composition also is inspired by Spanish dance rhythms and melodies, and showcases the solo violinist in dazzling, virtuosic writing for the violin. The "Symphonie Espagnole" is a favorite among audiences and violinists, and is regularly heard in concert halls throughout the world.

Special guest artist Manuel Ramos has established himself as one of the most active Mexican musicians of his generation. He has been featured as a soloist with orchestras throughout the United States and Latin America, and has taken part in chamber music festivals in the United States and Mexico. Highlights of his 2002 concert season include performances in St. Louis, Kansas City, and Illinois; appearances with orchestras in his native country; and an eighth tour to South America.

Among more than 25 concertos in Ramos' repertoire is the "Richard Strauss Concerto," which he premiered in his native country. He has collaborated with conductors Eduardo Mata, Leonard Slatkin, Raymond Leppard, Enrique Batiz, Gerhardt Zimmermann and Luis Herrera de la Fuente, among many others, and he has given recitals in such places as Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, and the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C. Several of Ramos' solo appearances with Mexican orchestras have been televised nationally in Mexico and internationally throughout Latin America. Ramos has been associated with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra since 1976 as a member of the first violin section. He also has been assistant concertmaster of the Pittsburgh and San Diego Symphonies and Concertmaster of the Mexico City Philharmonic.

The concert is open to the public. Tickets for this concert are now on sale at the Performing Arts Box Office by calling (573) 651-2265. Ticket prices are $10 for preferred seating, $6 for general admission, $5 for faculty, staff and senior citizens, and $4 for students.

Tickets also can be obtained at the door on the night of the concert. Audience members can park in the parking lot in front of Dempster Hall along the 700 block of Henderson Street. A free shuttle service from this lot to Academic Auditorium will be provided beginning at 7:15 p.m. on the night of the concert.

For more information about the concert, please contact the Department of Music at (573) 651-2141.