'Edmund Fitzgerald' Piano Concerto to Commemorate 30th Anniversary of Famous Shipwreck

Philadelphia, PA (Sault Symphony Orchestra)- In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck in November, 2005, the Sault Symphony Orchestra will premiere 'The Edmund Fitzgerald' piano concerto written by composer Geoffrey Peterson. The concert, entitled 'A Musical Seascape', will be presented on Saturday, November 5th, 2005 at 8:00 p.m. at the Kiwanis Community Theatre Centre* in Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada. The concert is a co-production of the Algoma Fall Festival and the Sault Symphony Orchestra and will feature Stephen Mallinger as piano soloist.

Completed in 2002, 'The Edmund Fitzgerald' concerto for piano and string orchestra chronicles the tragic final voyage of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald. The 729 foot iron-ore carrier was lost with her entire crew of 29 men on Lake Superior November 10th, 1975. Composed in four movements, Embarkment, The Gales, Six-Fathom Shoal ('We're holding our own.') and Entombment-Dirge, the concerto paints a vivid and haunting portrait of the legendary and mysterious shipwreck. The concerto incorporates several musical quotes. The first is Spanish Ladies, an English sea chantey, the other, the funeral march from Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, 'Eroica'. These familiar melodies are woven into a lush tapestry of sound, color and emotion, which take the listener on a moving journey into the eye of a catastrophic storm.