The Philharmonic Orchestra will perform the year’s first show at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Musical Arts Center. The performance will include overtures and arias by composers Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner.
The Philharmonic Orchestra is the highest-ranking orchestra at the Jacobs School of Music. It has performed in a variety of cities and at venues including Carnegie Hall and the Bastille Opera House.
Jane Dutton, associate professor of voice, and Wolfgang Brendel, professor of vocal practice, will perform alongside the orchestra led by conductor Arthur Fagen.
Dutton has sung at venues like the Metropolitan Opera and the English National Opera. She said the opportunity to perform on IU’s campus pushes her to be at her best.
“I spend my days on campus teaching my students the correct ways to sing and perform,” Dutton said. “I feel that I have to show them precisely what that is like with my own performance.”
Dutton said the music school presents a distinct opportunity for IU students whether they study music or not.
“The Jacobs School of Music is world-renowned,” Dutton said. “Because of that, its students that make up the orchestras at IU are world-class instrumentalists. When there is a concert on the campus of IU, all the students should take advantage of hearing musicians at this caliber.”
Brendel is also no stranger to orchestral performance as he has performed on all major opera stages in Germany and Europe.
Brendel said IU has the instrument to play works like Wagner and Verdi successfully, and that instrument is the Philharmonic Orchestra.
Originally from Munich, Brendel has sung works such as Verdi and Wagner before.
Brendel said the preparation for such a concert involves rediscovering techniques he used in his past performances.
Fagen, professor of orchestral conducting, has conducted in multiple cities including at the Palais de Beaux Arts in Brussels and the Flanders Opera of Antwerp, Belgium, and Ghent, Belgium.
“This is the first time the orchestra has gotten together,” Fagen said. “It’s the challenge of making a homogenous group with an orchestra that has never played together before.”
Fagen possesses a repertoire of more than 75 works and was the first-prize winner of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Conductors Competition, according to IU’s website.
Fagen will also conduct the Philharmonic Orchestra’s production of “Madama Butterfly” Nov. 4-6 and Nov. 11-12.
The Philharmonic Orchestra is an excellent way for students to get acquainted with orchestral music and complicated instrumental performance, Dutton said.
“This concert contains repertoire that is not commonly performed on college campuses,” Dutton said. “It is a wonderful opportunity for players to play music that they normally would have to wait until later in their careers to play.”
The Chamber Orchestra will play Sept. 14 with the Symphony Orchestra following Sept. 21 and the University Orchestra on Sept. 25.
The concert is an opportunity to have what Brendel said is a special experience.
“When you see the instrument of a 140 people making music all together under one baton and trying to make the best of it,” Brendel said. “That’s something incredible.”
