An audience favorite each year, the 80-member ISU Symphony Orchestra returns under the baton of Jacob Harrison, ISU Director of Orchestral Activities.

This narrated program will explore the instruments and sounds of the orchestra with Ottorino Respeghi’s Pines of Rome and Mason Bates’ Mothership.

Written in 1924, Pines of Rome was the first composition known to incorporate a pre-recorded sound – a bird call. This symphonic tone poem used extremely specific musical imagery and brilliant scoring and was the inspiration for many early Hollywood composers.

Embracing 21^st century technology, Mothership was written for the 2011 YouTube orchestra and has been viewed over two million times. It is an electro-acoustic tour de force featuring improvisational solos that cross over between the classical and pop worlds.

Following the performance, students are invited to meet the musicians in the lobby for an ‘’instrument petting zoo,’ an opportunity to see and hear the instruments up close.

(Program is subject to change without notice.)

Curriculum Connections

Communication History Multi-cultural Music Teamwork