Organist guest at Saturday's symphony orchestra concert

By By Penny Randall / staff writer
Feb. 15, 2004
The site for the next Meridian Symphony Orchestra concert will be First Baptist Church of Meridian.
The symphony will present its third concert of the season Saturday. "The King of Instruments" will begin at 8 p.m. and feature local organist David Benson, with Barry Germany and David Bishop on the piano. Dr. Claire Fox Hillard will conduct.
Benson is the organist-choirmaster at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Meridian, a position he has had for two years. Before moving to Mississippi, Benson was organist-choirmaster and director of music at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Gainesville, Fla., for 17 years.
He is a graduate of Stetson University. Benson founded Melrose Music Theatre in Melrose, Fla. For more than 20 years, this company of singers and actors produced Gilbert and Sullivan operas, Broadway revues and annual madrigal dinners.
The concert will begin with "Chorale-Overture," a composition from Mississippi composer and "Music Alive" composer-in-residence Samuel Jones. Then Benson will perform Robert Sirota's "In the Fullness of Time." The final piece will be Symphony No. 3 in C minor by Camille Saint-Saens.
Prior to the concert Jones, Hillard and Benson will conduct a pre-concert lecture in the chapel of First Baptist Church at 7 p.m.
Tickets for the event can be purchased at the door the night of the event or by calling the MSO office at 693-2224.