Bobby Horton Set for BSO's Season Finale Tonight

Award-winning folk musician Bobby Horton returns to the BSO stage for the Brevard Symphony Orchestra's 2014-2015 season finale tonight, April 18th at the King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne.

The concert opens with Brahms's Academic Festival Overture - a work written for the occasion of Brahms receiving an honorary doctorate and showcasing the composer's wry sense of humor regarding academia, as he included the melodies from student drinking songs. The orchestra will then perform the Second Symphony of American composer Charles Ives. Known as The Great American Symphony, Ives wove familiar folk tunes, church hymns and excerpts from classics by Brahms, Beethoven and Wagner into his highly original symphony. This special encounter performance will be presented without intermission - with images of both composers and sights relevant to their influences will be projected onto a screen above the orchestra, between each movement. Between movements, Horton also an historian, will tell the story behind Ives' work and delight audience members with his extraordinary musical talents on banjo and guitar. Concert begins at 8:00pm. For tickets, call the King Center Box Office at (321) 242-2219 or purchase online at www.brevardsymphony.com.

Bobby Horton was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. His lifelong passion for music and history began at an early age. With a trumpet playing father and a banjo-playing grandfather, he was exposed to a varied menu of music-from the sound of the big bands, jazz combos and classical to the old time sounds of Southern gospel, sacred harp, and "hillbilly" music.

Most of the men in his young life were World War II veterans, as he listened to their war stories he soon made the connection between these stories and the content of his school history books. When he was nine years old the United States celebrated the Centennial of the Civil War. This celebration brought the Civil War to the forefront of his interest and his love of history became deeply rooted.

In 1984, Horton was asked to produce the score for a feature film set in 1863 in Southern Indiana. While researching music from the mid-19th century, he uncovered literally thousands of tunes from that period. Combining his passion for music and Civil War history, he began recording what has now become fourteen volumes of authentic Civil War tunes in his home studio - playing all of the period era instruments and singing all the parts himself. This series is sold around the world and has led to a career in film scoring and a live presentation of these songs with the stories that accompany them. Bobby Horton is widely recognized as one of the country's leading authorities of music from the Civil War period.

A seasoned performer, Horton is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and music historian. He has performed with the musical-comedy trio Three On a String, throughout the United States and Canada for 40 plus years. He has also produced and performed music scores for sixteen PBS films by Ken Burns - including "The Civil War", and "Baseball," two films for The A&E network, and twenty-one films for The National Park Service. His series of recordings of authentic period music has been acclaimed by historical organization and publications through America and Europe.

Tickets range in price from $20 to $50 Adults, $10 College Students, $6 Children - Box office fees may apply.

Teachers and active military receive 50% off in areas two and three for season tickets and single tickets. Must present valid I.D. to purchase.

Sorry, no refunds or exchanges.

For more information, contact the Brevard Symphony Orchestra at (321) 242-2024 or visit our website at www.BrevardSymphony.com.

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