Student-at-Piano

Symphony Orchestra

The Valparaiso University Symphony Orchestra is a select, all-student, symphonic orchestra dedicated to professional standards of performance.

Symphony Orchestra

The orchestra regularly includes members from all of Valparaiso University’s professional colleges and a wide array of disciplines. Their repertoire includes works from both the standard and contemporary repertories.

Accomplishments

Since becoming an all-student orchestra in the early 2000’s, performances have included music by Beethoven (Symphonies 5, 8, 9), Brahms (Symphonies 1, 2, 4), Mendelssohn (Symphonies 4, 5), Rachmaninoff (Piano Concerto No. 2), Shostakovich (Symphony 5, Piano Concerto 2), Sibelius (Symphonies 1, 2), Tchaikovsky (Symphonies 4, 5), Mahler (Symphony 2), Britten (Sea Interludes), Elgar (Enigma Variations), Holst (The Planets), Respighi (Pines of Rome), Strauss (Death and Transfiguration), and Stravinsky (Firebird Suite). In 2018, the VUSO served as the anchor ensemble for the second annual Friendship Lasts Forever gala concert, which was held at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, the premier outdoor performance venue in Chicago. In the spring of 2018, they toured China for the second time.

Domestic tours to cities near and far, have included performances in Orchestra Hall Chicago and in Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra. The symphony has performed from Minneapolis and St. Louis to Washington D.C. and New York City.

International tours have featured performances in London, Bath, Brecon Beacons, Cambridge, Prague, Pilsen, Linz, Vienna, Budapest, Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Shanghai.

Guest conductors over the years have featured Dennis Russell Davies, Bruckner Symphony of Linz; Helmuth Rilling, Bachakadämie Stuttgart; Hermann Max, Rheinische Kantorei and Das Kleine Konzert; Barbara Schubert, University of Chicago; and Craig Jessop, Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Guest artists with the VUSO include Grammy-winning fiddler/composer Mark O’Connor; Yu Yuan-Qing, violin; Walter Preucil, cello; Maki Namekawa, piano; Zhu Changyao and Song Fei, erhu; Winston Choi, piano; and Rachel Barton Pine, violin.