The UVM Symphony Orchestra performs.

The University of Vermont Symphony Orchestra is a 90-member ensemble of university students and community members. All university students and interested community members who play an orchestral instrument are invited to audition.

 

Students who play in the orchestra major in a variety of different subjects. This year, students in the orchestra are majoring in music, psychology, computer science, foreign languages, history, elementary education, art, natural resources, and many other disciplines. The orchestra performs several times each year and plays a variety of baroque, classical, romantic, and twentieth-century repertoire.

Each spring, we also hold a concerto competition, a chance for UVM students to play a solo with the orchestra.

Please note there will be two performances on the same concert date.

Auditions

All students regardless of major are welcome to audition for the University Symphony Orchestra.

Spring 2024 Auditions

Prepare to perform:

  1. Solo of your choice that represents your current level
  2. E-flat and A major scales (concert pitch) at the tempo and the number of octaves that represents your current level
  3. To be considered for the 1st violin section, prepare this orchestra excerpt: John Williams: Star Wars Suite.    SW Throne Violin(PDF)
  4. Please use the following link to sign up for your audition time (UVM ID required)

Please contact Dr. Kono to schedule an audition time.

Students who miss auditions are welcome to audition at a later date if there are any vacant positions remaining.

Faculty, staff, and community members are also welcomed to audition, although students are given priority. Most woodwind, brass, and percussion positions are filled by students, while the string sections consist primarily of students with a few community members. Community members interested in playing in the woodwinds, brass, or percussion sections are contacted after the student auditions are complete and informed of any vacant positions. Community members who play strings only need to audition once. High school students interested in joining must be a member of the school ensemble and youth orchestra.

Spring 2024 Concert Schedule

Saturday, April 13, 4 PM and 7:30 PM (two performances)

“From Earth to the Stars”
Louise Farrenc
Overture No. 1 in E minor

TBD: Concerto Competition Winner

Jean Sibelius
Spring Song

Star Wars Suite, by John Williams
I.Main Title
II. Princess Leia’s Theme
III. The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)
IV. Yoda’s Theme
V. Throne Room & End Title

Saturday, November 11, 4 PM and 7:30 PM

“Past, Present, and Future”
Franz von Suppé
Poet and Peasant Overture

Ceécile Chaminade
Callirhoë Suite

Charles Gounod
Funeral March of Marionette

Philip Herbert
Towards Renewal

Michael Giacchino
Star Trek: Into Darkness

Fall 2023 Concert Schedule

Saturday, November 11, 4 PM and 7:30 PM

Program

“Past, Present, and Future”


Franz von Suppé
Poet and Peasant Overture

Ceécile Chaminade
Callirhoë Suite

Charles Gounod
Funeral March of Marionette

Philip Herbert
Towards Renewal

Michael Giacchino
Star Trek: Into Darkness

Past Concerts

2022-2023 Concert Schedule

Saturday April 15, 7:30 PM
Morton Gould, American Salute
Concerto, TBA
Thelonious Monk/Williams/Hanighen/Patricia Julien, ‘Round Midnight
Musella, Sweet Dreams, Elizabeth Lee
Holst, Mars and Jupiter from The Planets

Saturday, November 12, 7:30 PM
Franz Schubert: Rosamunde Overture
Drew Sennett: TBA (World Premiere)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Movements from the Nutcracker
Quinn Mason: Heroic Overture
Camille Saint-Saëns: Danse Bacchanale

 

 

2020-2021 Concert Schedule

Saturday, November 13, 7:30 PM

Ludwig van Beethoven: Coriolan Overture
Édouard Lalo: Cello Concerto, mvt. III.  Simon Webber, soloist
Jessie Montgomery: Soul Force
Modest Mussorgsky: Night on a Bald Mountain
Arturo Márquez: Danzon No. 2

 

Saturday, April 20, 2021, 7:00PM
Copland: Variations on a Shaker Melody from “Appalachian Spring”
Bizet: Jeux dEnfants
Faure: Pavane
Krommer: Concerto for 2 Clarinets No. 1, op. 35.  Soloists: Ginny Churchill and Bailey Brown (Winners of Concerto Competition)


December 2020
Project: As of Then


Saturday, November 7, 2020, 7:00PM
Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 1
Johannes Brahms: Serenade No. 2


April 2020
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, The Great Gate of Kiev


Saturday, November 9, 2019, 7:30 PM
Elizabeth Raum: Fanfare Overture (2002)
Gioacchino Rossini: La Gazza Ladra (1817)
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakoff: Fantasia on Serbian Themes, op. 6 (1867)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Danse nègre, op. 35, no. 4 (1898)
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet (1881)
Special guest actors, Juls Sundberg and Julia Sioss will perform the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Saturday, April 4, 2020, 7:30 PM

Beethoven: Coriolan Overture
Kim Diehnelt: Striadica: A Symphonic Passage
Sibelius: Spring Song
Mussorgsky/Tushmalov: Pictures at an Exhibition
Franz Krommer: Concerto for Two Clarinets, No. 1, Op. 35
featuring Concerto Competition winners Bailey Brown and Ginny Churchill

Saturday, November 9, 2019, 7:30 PM

Elizabeth Raum: Fanfare Overture (2002)
Gioacchino Rossini: La Gazza Ladra (1817)
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakoff: Fantasia on Serbian Themes, op. 6 (1867)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Danse nègre, op. 35, no. 4 (1898)
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet (1881)

Special guest actors, Juls Sundberg and Julia Sioss will perform the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

 

 

Saturday, April 13, 2019, 7:30 PM

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, IV and V
Bizet: Overture to L'Arlesienne
Florence Price: Symphony No. 1, mvt. I
Badelt/Ricketts: Pirates of the Caribbean
Doppler: Fantasie Pastorale Hongroise (ft. concerto competition winner Kylie Elliott, flute)

Saturday, November 10, 2018, 7:30 PM

Beethoven: Ruins of Athens Overture
Gwyneth Walker: Open the Door
Jennifer Higdon: Soliloquy, cello: Prof. Emily Taubl
Dvorak: Rondo, cello: Prof. Emily Taubl
Stravinsky: Suite from Firebird (1919)

Saturday, April 14, 2018, 7:30 pm

Symphony No. 5, Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 20, Mozart
Swan Lake Suite, Tchaikovsky
Dusk, Bryant
Symphony No. 9, Dvorak

Saturday, November 11, 2017, 7:30 pm

On Top of the World, Balmages
The Nutcracker Suite, Tchaikovsky
Procession to the Cathedral from Lohengrin, Wagner
Capriccio Espagnol, Rimsky-Korsakov

Close up of the orchestra cello section.

Conductor

Yutaka Kono (faculty profile)
Yutaka.Kono@uvm.edu
(802) 656-7767

Orchestra  rehearses on Tuesday evenings, 7:00-9:30.