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.
The DSO's concert seasons are built around central themes
that serve as focal points for both the orchestra and
the audience. In 2008-09, the DSO paid tribute to Ralph Vaughan Williams, Joseph Haydn, and examined the works of eastern European composers. The season finale was a production of Felix Mendelssohn's Overture and Incidental Music to William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, presented with an abridged version of the play presented by Duke's Antic Shakespeare Company, directed by Jay O'Berski. This year (2008-09), the Mendelssohn celebration continues with the performance of the composer's Piano Concerto No. 3 in E minor in a reconstruction by R. Larry Todd and Concerto in E minor for Violin, Op. 64 (1st version, edited by R. Larry Todd). Another highlight of the season will be a semi-staged concert version of Mozart's comic opera, Così fan Tutte, performed with professional opera singers.
Highlights of past seasons include a performance of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel with professional opera singers, a celebration of the works of Mozart and Shostakovich in honor of the composers’ anniversaries (250th and 100th, respectively), 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.
Each spring, the DSO travels to Beaufort, SC to perform a benefit concert for Beaufort Memorial Hospital’s Keyserling Cancer Center, raising over $110,000.
2009-10 schedule:
- Sunday, September 6, 6 pm - Pops Concert
East Campus Main Quad (rain location: Baldwin Auditorium) - Wednesday, September 30, 8 pm - with guest artists Eric Pritchard, violinist, and Cicilia Yudha, pianist
Baldwin Auditorium
Mendelssohn, Trumpet Overture, Op. 101; Piano Concerto No. 3 in E minor in a reconstruction by R. Larry Todd; Hebrides Overture, “Fingal’s Cave,” Op. 26; Concerto in E minor for Violin, Op. 64
(1st version, edited by R. Larry Todd) - Saturday, October 24, 8 pm - Parents' Weekend Concert
Duke Chorale, Symphony Orchestra, and Wind Symphony
Duke Chapel - Wednesday, December 2, 8 pm - with guest artists Hsiao-mei Ku and Frances Hsieh, violinists, and Darrett Adkins, cellist
Baldwin Auditorium
Purcell, Chacony in G minor for Strings, “London”
Handel, Concerto Grosso in C Major, “Alexander’s Feast”
Haydn, Cello Concerto No. 2 in D Major, Op. 101
Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 - Thursday, March 18 and Saturday, March 20, 7:30 pm
Baldwin Auditorium
Mozart, Così fan Tutte: A Comic Opera in Two Acts.
A semi-staged concert version sung in Italian with English supratitles
Featuring Natasha Ospina, Teresa Buchholz, Susan Williams, Jason Karn, Joshua Sekoski, and Brian Johnson
- Saturday, April 17, 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 - Wednesday, April 21, 8 pm - with the winner of the Student Concerto Competition
Baldwin Auditorium
Brahms, Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80
Schumann, Symphony No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 38 “Spring”
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!