DPU Chamber Symphony to kick off tour with concert Monday

Prior to departing on a nine-day European tour to the UK, Jan. 11–19, the DePauw University Chamber Symphony will present a pre-tour concert in Greencastle with DePauw faculty soloist Nicole Brockmann.

The performance, conducted by Orcenith Smith, will be presented Monday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m. with the audience invited to join the ensemble on-stage in the Green Center’s Kresge Auditorium.

Included on the 30-member Chamber Symphony’s concert tour will be performances in London, Oxford and Bath, with specific locations selected to serve diverse purposes and audiences.

The DePauw Chamber Symphony, directed by Orcenith Smith, will present a free Winter Term 2017 pre-tour concert in the Green Center's Kresge Auditorium on Monday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m.

The two concerts to be held in London will be given at Guy’s Hospital (Jan. 13) and in Morley Hall at the Morley College of Music’s Center for Young Musicians (Jan. 14). While at Oxford University, the ensemble will perform in Christ Church Cathedral (Jan. 16) and in Bath, it will present an early afternoon concert at St. Michael’s Church (Jan. 17).

The playlist for DCS’s 2017 Winter Term tour will feature several pieces by prominent American composers, including the “Overture to ‘Candide’” by Leonard Bernstein; excerpts from the ballet “Rodeo” by Aaron Copland; and “Skylife” by 2013-14 Green guest artist David Balakrishnan, founder of the Turtle Island Quartet.

Main works on the program are Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 1” and the German romantic Max Bruch’s “Romanze for Viola and Orchestra,” featuring faculty violist Brockmann. Closing the concerts is “Soirées Musicales” by the quintessential English composer Benjamin Britten.

“It is important for the programming for any tour to be filled with musical challenges to develop the young musicians,” says Smith, music director of the DePauw Orchestra. “We want as well, of course, for the audience to enjoy our concerts; so, we purposefully program great music.”

Since 1975, the student members of the DePauw Chamber Symphony have focused its January Winter Term on preparing and performing major concert tours, winning over audiences with their high technical standards, programming and passionate playing.

The intensity of the work to be done, combined with the cultural benefits of touring to celebrated venues in Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Spain, New York City and Washington, D.C., has been seen as life-changing for the students involved.

Admission to the DePauw Chamber Symphony’s pre-tour concert on Monday evening is free.