Featuring two winners of the annual Concerto/Aria Competition, the Hillsdale College Symphony Orchestra will perform its first concert of the semester on Thursday.
The concert will begin at 8 p.m. in Markel Auditorium. Ticket reservations should be made by contacting the Sage Center Box Office either by phone or email.
The program includes Bedřich Smetana’s “Die Moldau,” Aram Khachaturian’s “Concerto for Flute and Orchestra,” Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, op. 28,” and Paul Hindemith’s “Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber.”
Junior Clara Fishlock, who will perform a flute solo during Khachaturian’s concerto, said even students who don’t typically listen to classical music can enjoy the concert.
“The program is beautiful, engaging, and very accessible even to people who are not familiar with classical music,” Fishlock said. “The Hindemith ‘Symphonic Metamorphosis’ doesn’t necessarily have the same type of melodic thematic material as the other pieces on the program, but is still enjoyable and certainly interesting to listen to.”
Junior Tova Forman, who will perform a violin solo during Saint-Saëns’ piece, said the orchestra began working on the concert set at the beginning of the spring semester, making it an “extremely short rehearsal cycle.”
Despite its quick pace, Forman said, playing in the orchestra has been an opportunity for her to reach others and exhibit artistic beauty.
“God gave me a love for playing for people, trying to soothe and inspire them by showing them attributes of him through music,” Forman said. “An orchestra performance displays beauty, order, and creativity, which are things we should get used to in art as well as academics.”