Ohio State Symphony Orchestra to hold end of semester concert

The strings section of the Ohio State Symphony Orchestra records a concert Oct. 7, 2020. Credit: Mary Kidwell | For The Lantern

Ohio State’s Symphony Orchestra, known as the university’s top orchestral ensemble, will take its final bow of the semester this weekend.

The orchestra’s final performance of the 2021-22 academic year will take place Sunday from 4-5:30 p.m. Led by Miriam Burns, director of orchestras at Ohio State, the symphony will present a diverse, free program celebrating the group’s growth over the past two semesters, she said.

“We’ve done some really challenging repertoire this year,” Samantha Burgess, a master’s student in orchestral conducting and music theory, said. “It’s been really fun to see the orchestra work on it and see it come together.”

Burgess will be conducting “Overture, Scherzo and Finale” by Robert Schumann at the event and said the three-movement, stand-alone piece is very much the epitome of musical Romanticism — a 19th-century movement that aimed to inspire listeners by exploring an individual’s subjectivity and emotions. 

“It has this, like, free, outward joy to it,” Burgess said. “You go through the other two movements, and then you get this really fun, beautiful chorale at the end.” 

Malik Khalfani, a master’s student in orchestral conducting, said he will lead the orchestra through John Daniels Carter’s “Cantata: Rondo, Air and Toccata.” The piece is a medley of African American spirituals blended into five movements, Khalfani said.

Khalfani said he appreciates the opportunity to direct the piece in a full concert hall, considering it was originally composed with simpler instrumentation.

“I think it has potential to be more powerful and reach a larger audience through playing it with and seeing it with an orchestra rather than just with voice or piano, or organ, etc. — a smaller set of people,” Khalfani said. “It’s really exciting that we can share these very authentic pieces and songs in such a large way.”

Burgess said guest soprano soloist Sadiyah Babatunde, a fifth-year in music and marketing, will join Khalfani onstage for the piece. Babatunde is this year’s concerto competition winner, she said. 

The annual concerto competition — a decades-long tradition at Ohio State — is a highly competitive opportunity for students to audition for an opportunity to headline a Symphony Orchestra concert and bolster their career resume, according to the School of Music website. 

Burns, who is also an assistant professor of practice in orchestral conducting, said she will conduct “Concerto for Orchestra” by Béla Bartók and the relatively new “Starburst” by Jessie Montgomery. 

Montgomery, a millennial composer, violinist and educator hailing from Manhattan’s Lower East Side, composed “Starburst” as a rapid, synesthetic play on musical colors, according to the composer’s website. 

The Bartók piece, written after World War II, incorporates Hungarian and Eastern European folk music, and Burgess said the orchestra is rising to the significant challenge the piece offers.

“It’s sounding quite good,” Burgess said. “He writes music that is challenging. I’m really excited to see it in the performance.”

For many of the students in the group, the Sunday concert represents their last opportunity to perform music with some of their classmates and friends, Khalfani said. 

“We want to put together good music, and it’s nice because these people are truly my friends and colleagues within the orchestra, and I have the opportunity to make music with them on a daily basis,” Khalfani said. 

The concert will take place in the Mershon Auditorium in the Wexner Center for the Arts, located at 1871 N. High St. Admission to the concert is free.