Asheville Symphony string musicians perform with WCU faculty and students on Sept. 17

From a press release:

String musicians from the Asheville Symphony Orchestra will team up with students and faculty from the Western Carolina University School of Music to present a performance Tuesday, Sept. 17, to start the second year of an artist-in-residence program.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center on the WCU campus.

The partnership began last year as a way to bring professional string musicians to campus for performances with WCU’s woodwind, brass and percussion students and choral ensembles as the Artist-in-Residence Orchestra.

This year’s season of performances includes masterworks of the orchestral repertoire conducted by the Asheville Symphony’s Daniel Meyer, a young conductor who is building a reputation for his work with younger orchestras, said Will Peebles, director of WCU’s School of Music.

“As conductor of the Asheville Symphony, Daniel Meyer is uniquely positioned to bring together the string players with whom he works regularly and the wind and percussion students from Western Carolina,” Peebles said.

Meyer said he is excited about the continuing collaboration with students and faculty at WCU.

“From the first time I visited campus, it was obvious to me that WCU places a high priority on the value of great art and great performances, particularly in the investment in the beautiful Bardo Arts Center,” he said. “Artists and performers of the future will be well-suited to make a home at WCU, and with this collaboration between the students, faculty and professional musicians of the ASO, we will be able to explore the details and depths to which performing artists must go in order to create an excellent performance.”

This year’s series of Artist-in-Residence Orchestra concerts also will feature WCU faculty as soloists with the orchestra.

The program for Sept. 17 consists of Hebrides Overture (“Fingal’s Cave”) by Felix Mendelssohn; Concerto No. 1 for Horn and Orchestra by Richard Strauss, featuring WCU’s Travis Bennett on horn; and Symphony No. 4 in Bb major by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and children. Proceeds go to support the Artist-in-Residence program, which represents a unique partnership between the School of Music and the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, providing important educational opportunities for School of Music students and more employment opportunities for the musicians of the orchestra, Peebles said.

For information, contact the WCU School of Music at 828-227-7242.