Competition winners Jessica Hoffman, Daniel Moody and Emily Moses are to perform with MUSO. (Contributed by Jeanne Harmeyer)
Fresh off of winning the Associated Student Government's Outstanding Performance Organization for the second year in a row, the Miami University Symphony Orchestra (MUSO) will present a concert featuring the talents of three soloists and the combined power of the entire group 8 p.m. Friday in Hall Auditorium.
The concert includes the famous Modest Mussorgsky piece "Pictures at an Exhibition," transcribed for orchestra by Maurice Ravel.
Ricardo Averbach, orchestra director and recent recipient of the American Prize in Conducting, said this concert is "the climax of the entire year."
"Pictures at an Exhibition" is widely considered one of the top pieces in the orchestral repertoire. According to Averbach, it contains contrasting sections and highlights the entire group.
Aside from the orchestral classic, this concert also highlights the talents of three individual soloists. These soloists, the winners of the music department's annual Concerto Competition, were chosen by an outside jury to perform with the MUSO.
The winners for 2011 are sophomore piano performance major Jessica Hoffman, sophomore vocal performance major Daniel Moody and senior vocal performance and music education major Emily Moses. Hoffman will be performing Edward Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor. Averbach describes this piece as one of the most performed piano concertos.
MUSO President Kristin Hill said, "The piece is fun to listen to and to play."
Moses will be singing arias from the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet. Moody will be performing various baroque arias with the Oxford Chamber Orchestra (OCO), an orchestra comprised of faculty and students playing side by side.
When asked why the OCO will be performing with Moody, Averbach said, "It would be out of style with a bigger orchestra."
Working with the soloists presents MUSO with unique and different challenges each year.
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"It is always a challenge because for many (soloists) it is their first time performing with an orchestra," Averbach said.
This year is unusual because all three soloists are undergraduate students.
"It is the first time since I have been at Miami when this has happened," Averbach said.
Averbach invites all students to "celebrate the end of classes in a fun way." This concert is free, provides great repertoire and will showcase the talent of the entire orchestra and individual soloists.
Family Weekend: Performing Arts Series presents ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. Fall: MU Opera presents Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance MU Theatre presents William Shakespeare's As you Like it Spring: PAS presents I Musici de Montreal featuring Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition MU Theatre presents Thorton Wilder's Our Town
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