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 2025 Auditions
New students who wish to join the orchestra in spring should sign up for an audition during the first week of class in January.
Faculty, staff, and community members are also welcome 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 members of the school ensemble and youth orchestra.
Spring 2025 guest conductor: Mark Alpízar, Mark.Alpizar@uvm.edu
Past Concerts
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
Fall 2023 Concert Schedule
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
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
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