Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra will open its season this year with “Pictures at an Exhibition,” a collaboration of students and teachers performing professional classical music. The concert will be held in Moody Music Hall’s Concert Hall Monday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.
Audience members will hear the works of two Russian composers: Sergei Prokofiev’s “Symphony No. 1 in D, Op. 25,” also known as the “Classical Symphony,” and Modest Petrovitch Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” as well as the “Clarinet Concerto” by American composer Aaron Copland.
Osiris Molina, assistant professor of clarinet at the University, will be the soloist in the Copland piece.
“Pictures at an Exhibition” will include both faculty and student musicians from The University of Alabama’s School of Music. One such member is Cynthia Simpson, a senior majoring in music performance who plays the French horn. Simpson is the assistant principal horn at the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra. This upcoming concert marks her first subscription show with the company.
“At first, I was really nervous,” Simpson said. “In most ensembles, I’ve been in here, I’ve been playing with people my age, but in this, the faculty is surrounding me on stage. I’m the assistant to my own teacher. He’s sitting right next to me as I play.”
The blend of faculty and students is nothing new to TSO, which has been working with students who have a high caliber of musicianship for years, most frequently placing them as substitutes for regular orchestra members.
With the exception of voice and piano, most music performance department faculty members are in TSO, providing students an opportunity to hear their own teachers play in an orchestral setting.
“I encourage students, especially music students, to come to this because there are so many faculty members. It’s like hearing a history teacher give a lecture about their area of expertise. This is a chance to hear our own teachers really play together,” Simpson said.
Heather Jacques, a master’s student in vocal performance, performed with TSO last spring as a soloist in “Let’s Fall in Love” with the UA Opera Theatre and in Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9” with University Singers.
“You would expect an orchestra of this caliber in a larger city. To have it in Tuscaloosa is really special,” Jacques said. “The University is really lucky to be affiliated with them the way we are.”
Jacques encouraged students to take advantage of the TSO concerts as much as possible.
“People in our age bracket don’t often take advantage of it enough,” she said. “It’s right on campus, so it’s honestly perfect.”
Currently, in addition to local faculty and students, TSO includes members of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and professional musicians from Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia. The orchestra is under the musical direction of conductor Adam Flatt.
The Tuscaloosa Symphony Guild will be hosting a “Cheers ‘n Chat” event at 6 p.m. in Moody before the concert. The event will feature a speaker who will address specific elements of the works being performed and offer light refreshments to attendees.
TSO will be hosting five subscription concerts during its 2012-2013 season. Tickets are currently available online at tsoonline.org/tickets. Ticket prices range from $10 to $20.
