The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is an architectural jewel on the University of Maryland College Park campus, but beyond its breathtaking appearance, it is yet another area beacon for the exploration and enjoyment of inexpensive, professionally presented music, dance and theater in a state-of-the-art performance venue.
The Dekelboum Concert Hall, (one of six major halls and theatres in the complex) is home to the University School of Music, under the direction of Robert Gibson. the fall schedule of live performance features an outstanding and diverse student and faculty concert calendar.
“There’s energy from the young people that is really like no other experience because … they are playing this great literature and also new works for the first time,” said Gibson. “The level of [orchestral] excitement is palpable.”
The University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, under the leadership of music director James Ross, is one of the country’s premiere collegiate orchestras presenting a mix of time-honored traditional repertoire with cutting-edge contemporary pieces.
“White Heat,” offered Oct. 1, features Sibelius’ “Violin Concerto,” Tchaikovsky’s “Fourth Symphony” and a new fanfare by University of Maryland faculty composer Lawrence Moss, written as a conversational response to Janacek’s original work which is also performed.
A second offering in October pairs the Symphony Orchestra with the UM Concert Choir, under the direction of Ed Maclary. “Paradise and the Peri” is Schumann’s superior cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra. In November, the UM Symphony Orchestra teams up with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra in a show of support for the Chesapeake Bay. Britten’s “Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes” and Debussy’s “La Mer” form a musical celebration of water.
“When you hear ‘wind orchestra,’ think interesting,” Michael Votta, director of the UM Wind Orchestra, said.
The development of an orchestra that combines wind instruments with a few stringed instruments allows for a unique musical approach to new arrangements of both familiar works and those that have rarely been performed live.
The Wind Orchestra has packed its fall repertoire with concerts that include works by Strauss, Mahler and Mozart. Lesser-known pieces feature Higdon’s “Percussion Concerto” with percussionist Chris Rose and Schmitt’s “Dionysiaques, Opus 62.”
