The West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mitchell Arnold, will perform the monumental “Symphony in C Major,” by Franz Schubert, during its season opening concert at the Creative Arts Center, Thursday, Oct. 2.

The concert begins at 7:30 p.m., in the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre.

The Orchestra, nationally recognized in 2013 for excellence, will also perform a work by Glenn Buhr that depicts the sublime beauty of a cold, wintry landscape, as well as a potpourri of student drinking songs by Johannes Brahms.

“Franz Schubert’s ‘Symphony in C Major,’ is known universally as ‘The Great,’” said Dr. Arnold, who is director of Orchestral Activities at WVU.

“Schubert’s final symphony is truly monumental, on the order of the greatest symphonies ever composed. It has become a marker of orchestral excellence, a fitting work for our fine group of students to tackle on our first concert.”
The concert will open with Glenn Buhr’s evocative “winter poems.”

“This piece, with its iridescent score, truly captures the crystalline timelessness of the breathtaking Canadian winter landscape that inspired the composer,” Arnold said.

The third work on the program will be Johannes Brahms’ nearly tongue-in-cheek salute to academic life, his “Academic Festival Overture.”

“As the WVU Symphony Orchestra’s performance is the first of another year of great concerts by WVU ensembles, it seems appropriate to perform such a favorite as ‘Academic Festival Overture,’” Arnold said.

“Brahms thanked the University of Bremen for awarding him an honorary doctorate by composing this ingenious potpourri of student drinking songs. These were songs that concerned the promise of life, of comradeship, and of love and death. Brahms weaved a complex fabric that culminates in a thrilling ending.”

Arnold received a doctorate in Conducting from Northwestern University and has an extensive background in new music. Before coming to WVU, he was director of orchestras at Northern Illinois University and assistant director of orchestras at Northwestern University. He has also served on the faculties at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music.

The WVU Symphony Orchestra was one of only two collegiate orchestras invited to perform at the 2014 national conference of the College Orchestra Directors Association. In 2013 WVUSO was awarded the American Prize Special Citation for Musical and Technical Excellence in a national competition.

For concert tickets and information, call the WVU Box Office at (304) 293-SHOW.

Check out the WVU Symphony Orchestra’s Facebook page and their website at http://wvuso.weebly.com/.

-WVU-

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.