A whole season of twentieth century music!

That bold programming concept tells the story of the coming year. The JSO's first experiment with this approach, in the 1988-89 season, was a truly distinctive benchmark for the orchestra, and more importantly, it proved that "all that modern stuff' can really make for highly enjoyable symphony concerts!

As before, this year's programs were planned with the generous assistance of University of Michigan professor Glenn Watkins, who will be sharing from his great expertise in modern music during several of the Backstage Glimpses presentations this season. Over the course of the season there will literally be something for everyone. We will hear daring works that are unmistakably modern, along with lovely, lyric pieces that celebrate many of the great traditions of classical music. Above all, there will be an abundance of variety, insuring that the concerts are never dull or predictable. Variety truly is one of the finest spices in life!

Tonight's concert will begin with a musical collage. Webster defines a collage as "an assembly of diverse fragments." This concert version of a collage will separate the orchestra into smaller groupings for several outstanding works that call for less than the full orchestral complement. The dynamic percussion piece Four by Four By Four exhibits the variety of rhythms and colors that can be produced by drums, when played by four highly-skilled performers. Michael Daugherty's Sinatra Shag features a small, mixed ensemble of winds, strings, piano and percussion. Daugherty's widely-performed compositions are inspired by images and ideas from popular culture, in this case, a postcard of a leather-clad Nancy Sinatra sitting on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Daugherty, also a faculty member at the University of Michigan, visited Jackson two years ago for a performance of "Oh, Lois," from his Metropolis Symphony. Copland's famous and inspiring Fanfare For the Common Man will be contrasted with a Fanfare For the Uncommon Woman by Joan Tower. Copland's fanfare dates from 1942, and Tower's companion piece was written 44 years later for the same instrumentation. Is it a tribute to Copland's piece, or a reaction against it? The comparison should be very interesting.

Concertmaster Philip Mason and his wife Coral, always favorites of Jackson audiences, will help the JSO celebrate the centennial of Gershwin's birth which took place last week. Ned Rorern began his String Symphony in May of 1986 and finished it in only eight weeks. The waltz movement is certainly a dance, but definitely one with a modem twist. Edgard Varese was one of the most visionary and uncompromising of 20th century composers. His Octandre was written in 1923, and as the title implies it calls for eight instruments. The music exemplifies

Varese's percussive and rhythmic style of composition. Varese only completed twelve works during his lifetime, but he was very highly regarded by many of the most influential musicians of the century.

After the intermission the full orchestra will reassemble for three works. Stephen! is a new work by your humble composer in residence. It was commissioned in honor of Stephen Osmond's 20 years as the conductor of the JSO. Hopefully the music captures some of Maestro Osmond's energy, humor and enthusiasm.

Samuel Barber wrote two "Essays" for orchestra, one in 1937, and a second in 1942. Arturo Toscanini was one of many who took an interest in Barber's music, and he led the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the premieres of Barber's First Essay and his famous Adagio For Strings on the same program in 1938. William Schuman - not to be confused with Robert Schumann! - is a very significant composer and teacher who served as president of two of America's most important arts institutions: the Julliard School and the Lincoln Center. In 1943, he was awarded the first Pulitzer Prize in music for his work A Free Song. Schuman's music has a freshness and vitality that is uniquely American and highly enjoyable. His New England Triptych written in 1956, is based on the music of the early American composer William Billings. This, along with his "baseball opera" The Mighty Casey, exemplifies the inspiration of Americana in his work.