The Southwestern College Music Department will feature the South Kansas Symphony in concert this weekend.
The performance is set for 3 p.m., Sunday in Richardson Auditorium on the SC campus. Conducted by faculty member Daniel Stevens, the South Kansas Symphony is entering its 103rd season of classical music.???
The symphony includes college students and adults from the community playing a variety of orchestral instruments. This concert is free and open to the public, and seating is first come, first served.
“The growth of the ensemble this past year has allowed us to explore orchestral music for larger numbers,” Stevens said.? “Our string program has doubled in size, and many new community faces have joined us in the wind, brass, and percussion sections.”
Repertoire set for the opening concert includes Tchaikovsky’s “Marche Slav,” Brahms’s “Academic Festival Overture,” Elmer Bernstein’s “Magnificent Seven,” and an arrangement by Douglas Wagner titled “River Songs,” which combines the melodies of “Deep River” and “Shall We Gather at the River.”
A native of Kansas City, Mo., Stevens is the conductor/artistic director of the symphony.? As a college professor, Stevens teaches studio violin and viola lessons, string methods classes, and music theory.?
Stevens, the Mazie Barnett Kilmer Endowed Chair for Strings Education, has also begun the second season of the SC Youth Symphony. The group is tailored to the education and musical excellence of high school and middle school students.?
Audition dates for the 2008-2009 youth symphony season will be set in March 2008. For more information about the SC Youth Symphony call (620) 262-6677.
For more information about the upcoming concert call (620) 229-6272.
