Western Carolina University School of Music students and faculty will join string players from the Asheville Symphony Orchestra performing Beethoven, Strauss and Mendelssohn for the first Artist-in-Residence concert of the year.
The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17, in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center. Unlike most School of Music concerts, this concert is ticketed. Adult tickets are $10 and student or children’s tickets are $5. They can be purchased at the Bardo Arts Center box office.
The Artist-in-Residence program began last year as a partnership between the Asheville Symphony Orchestra and the WCU School of Music to provide educational experiences for students as well as more employment opportunities for the members of the orchestra.
Proceeds from the concert will be funneled back into the program for concerts in the 2013-2014 school year.
The program is important because despite its many noteworthy programs it provides, the WCU School of Music does not currently have an orchestral program.
“Providing the orchestral experience to the students is something that the school really needs to grow in,” Dr. Will Peebles, director of the WCU School of Music said. “And this program is a great way to do it.”
The program for this concert includes Richard Strauss’ “Concerto No. 1 for Horn and Orchestra,” featuring WCU horn professor Travis Bennett as the soloist; “Hebrides Overture (“Fingal’s Cave”)” by Felix Mendelssohn; and Ludwig Van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 4 in Bb major.”
Peebles added that it is a good educational tool and gives students an opportunity to “rub shoulders with the string players.”
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