Green Bay Civic Symphony opens season News-Chronicle Green Bay's younger orchestra, the Green Bay Civic Symphony, opened its new season with a lovely, confident performance of three perennial concert standards and one off-the-beaten-track work for two flutes. Immediately evident was the way the orchestra had held onto its advances of last year - and built still higher on them. Patrick Miles is again the conductor, as he has been from the start. The gentleman, who has shorn his pony tail this year, is the sort of maestro who is both an astute interpreter of the orchestral repertory and a savvy teacher who lifts his players onto new plateaus of accomplishment. Never prosaic, let alone boring, Miles is both bedrock sound and an imaginative musician. The strings grew appreciatively in achievement last season, in no small part due to the leadership of Concertmaster Karl Orvik and principal second violinist Stephane Deimer. Cellist Wendy Scatterday, too, has proven a fine section leader; the proof could be heard in several places during the evening. Brass and winds are prevailingly strong, with only a conspicuous shortfall with one principal position in the latter. Thus, the Prelude to Wagner's Die Meistersinger which opened the concert, was weighty and expansive. Even though the strings were small in number for such grand-scaled music, they produced an ample sound and managed the churning counterpoint with satisfying poise. Warmth was everywhere in evidence; the hearty, yet subtle performance was one of the orchestra's finest moments and the audience grasped that with perfect clarity. For Domenico Cimarosa's Concerto in G major for Two Flutes, the orchestra had but to reach into its ranks to find a pair of exemplary soloists. Principal Mary Gerbig has long since established her credentials as an excellent player: her fine, clear tone, easy facility and compelling musicality would grace any orchestra. Her colleague for the Cimarosa was Hilary Bromeisl, a young player who can boast much the same artistry as Gerbig. Together, they matched the level of playing usually heard in more prominent ensembles. Adding to the joy of the occasion was the crisp and stylistically apt performance by members of the orchestra, here reduced to appropriate size for this Classical Period work. Miles was able to move the soloists and small orchestra along at an energized pace and with unfaltering buoyancy. Everyone was listening carefully within the ensemble and the resulting intimacy spoke glowingly. After intermission (and bidding in a silent auction), Miles and orchestra turned their attentions to the Suite No. 1 from Bizet's "Carmen." Not infrequently described as the perfect opera, "Carmen" holds great tunes, expectant dramatic situations, evocative scoring and an elegance to survive the most primitive interpreters of the title role. Both conductor and orchestra were respectful of the suite's Frenchness, yet managed to explore the range of emotion that focuses its endless fascination. Tchaikovsky's "1812" Overture is the subject of many an aficionado's derision, yet audiences continue to thrill to it. Miles found almost all the music in it while not withholding the glorious bombast that sets the public's blood racing. Just when the players might have submitted to an understandable fatigue, they kept their adrenaline percolating and gave the work its due. Impressive cannon thwacks from the side drum. Narrator Stuart Smith's comments were wickedly pointed and very funny. Music is never diminished by humor. With its All Saints Day Concert, Saturday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m., the Dudley Birder Chorale of St. Norbert College will enter into its 30th season. Led by the popular and indefatigable Dudley Birder, the 160 member ensemble is one of the Midwest's finest community choral organizations. Such daunting undertakings as David Fanshawe's "African Sanctus" and Verdi's Manzoni Requiem were substantial successes, each upping the level of performance and creating considerable community pride. The annual All Saints Day Concert begins this year with Gabriel Fauré's Requiem featuring soprano Kathleen Schumacher and baritone Kent Paulsen. The program's second half will be devoted to the Saint Patrick's Mass of Philip Green, an intriguing work that features fiddle, flutes, folk drums and Celtic harp. Tenor soloist will be Doug Dachelet. General admission tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for students. To order, call the St. Norbert College box office at 403-3950 or 1-800-762-2699.