UGA Symphony Orchestra to Perform for Thursday Scholarship Series Season Opener

The University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music will open its 2018-2019 Thursday Scholarship Series with a dynamic concert by The University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra (UGASO).

The UGASO is one of the school’s premier ensembles. Performing under the baton of Mark Cedel, the UGASO is dedicated to the study and performance of significant orchestral music, which will be apparent when listening to their program.

“It’s a rather unique program in that there seems to be no relation among the selections. It is not what I would choose from a menu, to make a perfect meal. But each work is an absolute masterwork in its own right,” says Symphony Orchestra conductor Mark Cedel. 

The evening’s program will pull musical selections from Ravel, Bernstein, and Beethoven. The UGASO will perform Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Cedel says that, “The difference, contrast, I think only sharpens each work’s individual genius!” 

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) originally wrote his Mother Goose Suite as a duet for piano, so to hear Ravel’s dancing melodies played by an entire orchestra isn’t something to be missed. With more than 96 students onstage for Leonard Bernstein’s beloved Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, the performers are sure to give the audience an exciting spectacle to behold. And finally, as one of the most widely known and lauded classical pieces, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 will be a fantastic way to end the evening’s program.

“At the end of the evening we will all be musically sated,” says Cedel. The evening’s diverse program is sure to entice a part in all classical music-lovers. The concert is scheduled for Thursday, September 6th at 7:30 p.m. in Hodgson Hall located in the Performing Arts Center next door to the Hugh Hodgson School of Music.

Tickets for the event are $20 for adults and $6 for students and can be found online at pac.uga.edu. For more information about the School of Music, please visit music.uga.edu. To receive up to date information about concerts and other events, please subscribe to the weekly email list. Those unable to make it to the concert can watch the live stream at music.uga.edu/live-streaming.

The UGA Hugh Hodgson School of Music sponsors more than 350 performances each year and continues the legacy started by its namesake. From 1941-1950, Hodgson directed the University of Georgia Little Symphony Orchestra, a forerunner of today’s UGASO. The Thursday Scholarship Series began in 1980 and continues the tradition of “Music Appreciation Programs” that Hodgson started. Proceeds from these concerts are the primary source of funds for School of Music general student scholarships.