Behind the Headlines

By Charles Slat ctslat@monroenews.com

During the unveiling of the War of 1812 Bicentennial logo Monday, Mary Jo Stoyanovich could barely contain her excitement of tentative plans for her son, pianist-composer Patrick Stoyanovich, to compose a special War of 1812 Overture for the bicentennial festivities. Mr. Stoyanovich is an accomplished musician and pianist. A Seattle area resident, one of his last performances in Monroe was this fall when he featured his compositions from the Six Day Bicycle Race, a recently produced PBS documentary about the heyday of marathon bicycle racing in the early 1900s. The film is scheduled to air in the spring. Mrs. Stoyanovich said the Monroe County Historical Society is planning to commission the new Overture, not to be confused with orchestral work by Tchaikovsky commemorating the unsuccessful French invasion into Russia in 1812 that marked a major turning point of the Napoleonic Wars. That Tchaikovsky piece often uses real cannons as part of the presentation. Whatever final form Mr. Stoyanovich’s piece takes, Monroe residents probably will get a real blast out of it.