Orchestra program expands
Rehearsals underway for recently added Young Artist Concerto Competition
Melodious sounds came from the rehearsal room as the Liberty University Symphony Orchestra (LUSO) practiced for upcoming concerts, including the first annual Young Artist Concerto Competition Concert scheduled for April 28 at 7 p.m.
Repetition — The Liberty University Symphony Orchestra makes use of the phrase “practice makes perfect” to prepare for upcoming concerts. Photo credit: James Hancock
The orchestra was intended to engage and serve the community, according to LUSO Conductor Dr. John Kinchen III. Kinchen explained that throughout the years, the orchestra has improved through increasingly difficult music, practice, concerts and competitions. One new competition is the Young Artist Concerto Competition.
“This is the inaugural year of the Young Artist Competition, and we’re very excited about that,” Kinchen said. “It serves … the community, but it is also a great opportunity for Liberty University and the School of Music (SOM) to be represented beyond the borders of our school.”
In addition to enhancing the orchestra members’ skills, the competition was founded to reach out to young musicians, according to Kinchen.
“The objective … is to open up regionally to young artists and give them an opportunity to compete and … perform with an orchestra in a live concert setting,” Kinchen said. “At the same time, (we wanted) to allow the students to come into Liberty University and see … the level of quality that God has allowed us to have.”
The competition concert originally was planned to take place March 21 alongside the University Concerto Competition concert. However, scheduling conflicts shifted the concert date, according to Kinchen. The date change made for a correlation with other pieces the orchestra will perform, according to Kinchen.
“(The winner) is going to be playing the first movement of the Dvorak cello concerto, which will be kind of nice because … the Dvorak cello concerto (will be played) with Dvorak ‘Symphony eight,’” Kinchen said.
In order to tie the theme of Dvorak compositions with the other pieces, the April concert will be titled “Journeys in Music,” Kinchen explained.
“We’re going to do ‘Jurassic Park,’ which is another journey to a lost world and Mendelssohn’s ‘Hebrides Overture,’ which is a journey to the Hebrides, (an) island chain in the Mediterranean,” Kichen said. “… So, it’s a neat experience of traveling and journeys.”
The journey that brought the competition to fruition was rewarding but not easy, according to Kinchen.
“I had the idea two years ago, and it has taken time to develop,” Kinchen said. “It takes … time in every aspect from the marketing of the competition to the logistics of having it here to having all the key players in the SOM understand what we were trying to do and then, once the competition takes place, having a judging panel.”
Another journey that has seen progress is the maturation of the LUSO program. Kinchen explained that though the orchestra originally consisted of a mix of faculty, students and community members, it is now comprised of about 45 student musicians.
“We’ve seen some great growth … in numbers, as students have come in that are music majors,” Kinchen said. “Now, the orchestra (is) primarily going to be ‘faculty as needed’ in a student organization.”
One of these students, first violinist Caroline Dunmire, also observed the orchestra’s progress.
“We’re playing a lot of really fun literature, which has challenged us but also helped us to grow,” Dunmire said. “I’ve been really impressed with the growth in the sections. We have a really musically mature group.”
Overall, Kinchen believes the purpose and quality of the orchestra is continually improving.
“The objective is to have the orchestra serve as a premier performing ensemble for the School of Music that will not only perform music of the … great composers of the past but also perform music that is vital to the culture in which we live today,” Kinchen said.
Tickets for the Young Artist Concerto Competition Concert can be purchased at the Liberty University ticket office Web page and are free for Liberty students, $3 for Liberty University faculty and $5 for the public.
Steptoe is news reporter.