Southeast Symphony Orchestra members set their sights on China

The Southeast Symphony Orchestra will be presenting a series of concerts in China as part of the 2009 American Celebration of Music in China, in the latter part of May. The symphony will perform at several highly-esteemed cultural sites, including, weather permitting, the Great Wall of China. This will be the first-ever international concert tour for the Southeast Symphony Orchestra.

"This is a fabulous honor for the orchestra-for all of Southeast, actually," said Southeast junior Lynda Douglas. "Everyone thinks of this university as just a blip on the radar, but things like this are just huge. I do think that our orchestra is really talented and will do a fabulous job of representing us. Just the fact that they were asked to perform at something like this is amazing."

The orchestra will also be performing at the world-famous Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and will perform in Hanghzou, a very respected Chinese cultural site, as well. In addition, there will be a special collaborative concert with the Shanghai Normal University Orchestra at the Concert Hall of Shanghai Normal.

For all those who want to sample the music that will be performed in China (since, presumably, very few have the means to follow the orchestra there), there will be a special China Tour Preview Concert on Tuesday, May 5, at 7:30 p.m., in the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall at River Campus.

This concert will feature several different types of music, including a world-premiere work titled "River," written by Southeast faculty member Dr. Robert Fruehwald. According to a press release on the River Campus Web site, Fruehwald said that the piece is supposed to represent a journey down the Mississippi.

Music by Mozart and J.C. Bach will also be performed at the special preview concert, as well as a sampling of traditional Chinese folk music.

"This is a great idea, so that all the people who want to hear what the orchestra will play and sound like won't actually have to hitchhike to China," said Southeast music student Paul Davis. "I, for one, enjoy classical music, and I think it's great that representatives of our college get to go to a big festival like that, but I know that the only way I will get to see it is either by attending the preview concert or buying a DVD of it. And since I don't know if they are going to be selling DVDs, this preview concert is way more reasonable."