James Fellenbaum

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KNOXVILLE — Putting together a student orchestra concert that audiences will want to hear is not as easy a task as it may seem, according to James Fellenbaum, orchestra conductor and director of the orchestra program at the University of Tennessee School of Music.

"In our orchestra program, we have a wide range of students that come from different backgrounds," Fellenbaum said.

"One of the objectives of our concerts is to get the musicians used to playing with each other. I like to program music that I know they need to learn for auditions if they want to pursue careers as orchestra players. And, of course, we want the concerts to be enjoyable for an audience," he said.

Although Fellenbaum is the principal conductor of the UT Symphony Orchestra, he also likes the players to have the experience of playing under different conductors. "It's important that they learn the different styles of conductors," he said.

The concert series will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, at James R. Cox Auditorium with a concert of music with words. The program will include Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" and Benjamin Britten's "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra."

Later performances include the following:

The Nov. 1 concert will focus on music of Great Britain with Edward Elgar's "Enigma Variations" and two works by Sir Malcolm Arnold: "Four Scottish Dances" and the "Double Concerto for Two Violins and Strings" with faculty violinists Mark Zelmanovich and Miroslav Hristov as soloists.

Also in November, Kevin Class, music director of the UT Opera Theatre as well as director of UT's collaborative piano program, will conduct the orchestra for the Opera Theater's production of Robert Ward's Pulitzer Prize-winning opera "The Crucible." Performances will be 8 p.m. Nov. 13-16 at the Bijou Theatre with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday.

At 3 p.m. Nov. 22 at Farragut Presbyterian Church, Angela Batey, the new director of UT's Choral programs, will conduct the UT Chamber Orchestra and the UT Chamber Singers in a performance of Part I of George Frideric Handel's "Messiah."

Batey also will conduct the Chamber Orchestra, UT Chamber Singers and UT Concert Choir in a production of Maurice Durufle's seldom performed "Requiem" at 8 p.m. April 8, 2010, at James R. Cox Auditorium.

The orchestra's Feb. 14 concert is titled Orchestral Romance and will feature Tchaikovsky's "Symphony #2," along with an unusual performance of Mozart's famous "Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra." Faculty clarinetist Gary Sperl will perform Mozart's original score, playing a rare Buffet Extended-Range Basset-Clarinet, which can produce notes below the modern clarinet.

The March 21 concert will present the winners of the annual UT concerto competition, along with Beethoven's "Overture to Egmont."

The season will conclude April 13-16 with Rossini Festival performances with the UT Opera Theater at the Bijou Theatre of a double-bill of one-act operas: Stephen Paulus' "The Village Singer" and Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi."

Conducting student Rachel Grubb will share conducting duties with Fellenbaum. She also will conduct the September performance of Britten's "Young Person's Guide," with Fellenbaum as the narrator.

Admission to concerts at James R. Cox Auditorium is free.

Harold Duckett is a freelance contributor to the News Sentinel.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
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