The Walla Walla University Symphony Orchestra will perform in the Viennese Masters Invitational Orchestra Festival at Carnegie Hall in New York City on June 21 at 7:30 p.m.

The orchestra will start the concert with the Academic Festival Overture by Johannes Brahms. Jinhyang Park, WWU assistant professor of music, will play the second movement of the Grieg Piano Concerto, and the orchestra will follow that piece with a performance of the Finale from the Symphony No. 1 in G minor by Vasily Kalinnikov.

The trip to New York will span five days, during which students will have the opportunity to visit significant sites in the city and perform on the world’s premier concert stage—the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.

This opportunity came about when Brandon Beck, associate professor of music and orchestra conductor, received an invitation last September to audition for the invitational. Beck submitted an audition recording of the orchestra’s prior performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. Within an hour that performance had earned the group an opportunity to perform at the festival.

In March the orchestra performed a benefit concert in the University Church to raise funds for the trip. The orchestra, which includes more than 50 students, raised approximately $40,000 to help with expenses related to transporting large instruments such as cellos, basses, a harp, tubas, and more.

Tickets for the Carnegie Hall performance are available for purchase.

Posted June 12, 2019