The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra of Gustavus Adolphus College, conducted by Gregory J. Aune, is making final preparations for a seven-day, six-concert tour that will take it to parts of Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois.
The ensemble will kick-off the tour with a March 26 concert in Columbia Heights, Minn, and wrap up the tour with an April 1 concert in Schaumburg, Ill.
The full schedule for the group’s upcoming tour is as follows:
- Friday, March 26 / First Lutheran Church / Columbia Heights, Minn. / 7:30 p.m.
- Saturday, March 27 / First Lutheran Church / Duluth, Minn. / 7 p.m.
- Sunday, March 28 / The Historic Ironwood Theatre / Ironwood, Mich. / 2 p.m.
- Monday, March 29 / Manistique High School / Manistique, Mich. / 7 p.m.
- Tuesday, March 30 / St. Luke’s Lutheran Church / Grand Rapids, Mich. / 7 p.m.
- Thursday, April 1 / Prince of Peace Lutheran Church / Schaumburg, Ill. / 7 p.m.
The orchestra will also perform a home concert at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, April 11 in Christ Chapel. The concert is free and open to the public.
Aune is serving as the interim conductor of the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra during the 2009-10 academic year. He has an extensive resume conducting choral and orchestral masterworks and orchestral literature, including multiple performances of Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, the Mozart Requiem, and Brahms’s German Requiem.
Aune is also in his 15th year as conductor of the Gustavus Choir – the College’s top vocal ensemble. He also teaches classes in conducting and choral literature and has served as music director of the College’s annual Christmas in Christ Chapel program. Choirs under his direction have twice appeared at conventions of the North Central American Choral Directors Association as well as at conventions of the Kansas Music Educators Association and the Minnesota Music Educators Association.
Founded in 1888 following the establishment of a School of Music at Gustavus, the College’s orchestra has grown to be a full symphonic orchestra performing a broad selection of music. The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra regularly performs with faculty and guest soloists, as well as other campus ensembles, at events such as Christmas in Christ Chapel and the internationally recognized Nobel Conference.
The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra tours annually – either as a string orchestra or with its full complement – and once every four years travels abroad for a unique musical and cultural experience. In the spring of 2000, the orchestra made its European debut, performing in England, Scotland, and Wales. In January and February of 2004, the group embarked on a ground-breaking concert tour in China and made a return visit in January of 2008.
The tradition of concert touring by the music ensembles at Gustavus was established as early as 1878 for the musical, artistic, and educational benefit for the student members. Concert touring provides an opportunity to perform a concert program numerous times, fostering a deeper artistic understanding and expression of the music. It develops high levels of musical discipline and artistic integrity and allows the musicians to experience a variety of acoustic environments and widely diverse audience and ensemble dynamics.
The importance of music in the Gustavus undergraduate curriculum has long been recognized. Nearly half of its more than 2,500 students register for courses in theory, history, appreciation, pedagogy, and performance of music each year and many are members of some 30 performing ensembles.
The College’s Department of Music is housed in the Schaefer Fine Arts Center. The center’s music wing features the 475-seat Jussi Björling Recital Hall; a fully computerized music lab for students in music theory, composing/arranging, and class piano; class and rehearsal rooms; 30 private practice rooms; and the Lund Music Library, which contains more than 20,000 music recordings, 45,000 scores and anthologies, a music reference section, and listening equipment.
For more information about the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra at Gustavus and its upcoming tour, go online to gustavus.edu/finearts/touringschedule/ or contact Lisa Westphal, manager of music tours at Gustavus, at 507-933-7163 or lwestph2@gustavus.edu.
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