Duke Symphony Orchestra
The Duke Symphony Orchestra, directed by Harry Davidson, numbers some 100 players and draws its membership almost entirely from the student body. Rehearsing twice a week, it generally performs on campus four times a year. The Orchestra sponsors a Concerto Competition every year; winners are featured as soloists with the orchestra at a special concert. In the past few years the ensemble has collaborated with the Dance Department featuring both as pit orchestra and as main attraction of the evening: Serenade and Fairytales and Music were two extremely exciting and successful projects.
The DSO's concert seasons are built around central themes that serve as focal points for both the orchestra and the audience. The 2001/2002 season emphasized Mozart and opera, culminating in a concert performance of Don Giovanni that paired the orchestra with eight professional opera singers, including Brian Johnson (Don Giovanni) and Dina Kuznetsova (Donna Anna). Johnson has performed many roles in opera, ranging from Figaro in Cleveland Opera On Tour’s production of The Barber of Seville to Ford in Falstaff at the New Opera Festival di Roma. Kuznetsova, a native of Moscow, is a member of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. She recently performed the role of Donna Anna in the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin’s production of Don Giovanni, conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
An equally ambitious program was scheduled for 2002-2003, when the theme was All About Brahms. In February 2003, the DSO was joined again by Brian Johnson for a performance of Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem). This performance also included choruses from Duke and neighboring colleges, including Campbell University, Elon University, Meredith College, NC State University, Peace College, and Shaw University.
The theme for the 2003-04 season was "Austria Autumn, American Spring, Italian Finale." Works by Schubert, Mozart, Bruckner, Strauss, and Mahler were featured in the fall. Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring was a highlight of the spring semester, which culminated in a concert production of the Barber of Seville, performed in Italian in collaboration with professional opera singers. In 2005-6, we focused on works by various German composers, including Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony, Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 in C minor, and, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, a concert performance of The Marriage of Figaro, again in collaboration with professional opera singers.
In 2006-07, the DSO celebrated the works of Mozart and Shostakovich in honor of the composers’ anniversaries (250th and 100th, respectively.) Each spring, the DSO travels to Beaufort, SC to perform a benefit concert for Beaufort Memorial Hospital’s Keyserling Cancer Center. In four years, the DSO has raised over $110,000 for the Center.
2007-8 schedule:
- Sunday, September 2, 6:30 pm - Pops Concert
East Campus Main Quad (rain location: Baldwin Auditorium) - Wednesday, October 3, 8 pm - with guest artist Cecilia Yudha, piano
Baldwin Auditorium
Brahms, Hungarian Dances Nos. 1, 3 and 10
Mendelssohn, Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25
Schumann, Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Op. 61 - Saturday, November 3, 8 pm - Parents' Weekend Concert
Duke Chorale, Symphony Orchestra, and Wind Symphony
Duke Chapel - Wednesday, December 5, 8 pm - with guest artist Laura Byrne, harp
Baldwin Auditorium
Saint-Saëns, Danse Macabre, Poème Symphonique, Op. 40
Fauré, Pavane, Op. 50
Debussy, Danses Sacrée et Profane for Harp and Strings
Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14 - Wednesday, March 5, 8 pm - featuring Student Concerto Competition winners
Baldwin Auditorium
Bernstein, Overture to “Candide”
Barber, Adagio for Strings, Op. 11
Beethoven, Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major, Op. 60 - Saturday, April 12, 3 PM - PRISM Concert - gala performance featuring the Duke Chorale, Collegium Musicum, Djembe Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Opera Workshop, Symphony Orchestra, and Wind Symphony
Baldwin Auditorium - Friday, April 18, 7:30 pm & Sunday, April 20, 3 pm
Baldwin Auditorium
Humperdinck, Hansel and Gretel: A Fairytale Opera in 3 Acts
Semi-staged concert production sung in English with TERESA BUCHHOLZ, TIMOTHY CULVER, BRIAN JOHNSON, JUNG OH, SUSAN WILLIAMS, and the DURHAM CHILDREN’S CHOIR, Scott Hill, artistic director
General admission $10, students/senior citizens $5, children under 12 free
For auditions students are asked to play parts of a movement from a composition of their own choice (a concerto, sonata, etc.) and to sight-read a brief excerpt.
For information about joining the Duke Symphony Orchestra, please contact Professor Harry Davidson at (919) 660-3324 or hdavid@duke.edu.
Visit the DSO's student-run homepage!