Duke Symphony Orchestra
The Duke Symphony Orchestra, directed by Harry Davidson, numbers some 100 players and draws its membership almost entirely from the student body. Rehearsing twice a week, it generally performs on campus four times a year. The Orchestra sponsors a Concerto Competition every year; winners are featured as soloists with the orchestra at a special concert.
The DSO's concert seasons are built around central themes
that serve as focal points for both the orchestra and
the audience. The 2001/2002 season emphasized Mozart
and opera, culminating in a concert performance of Don
Giovanni that paired the orchestra with eight professional
opera singers, including Brian Johnson (Don Giovanni)
and Dina Kuznetsova (Donna Anna).
An equally ambitious program was scheduled for 2002-2003, when the theme was All About Brahms. In February 2003, the DSO was joined again by Brian Johnson for a performance of Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem). This performance also included choruses from Duke and neighboring colleges, including Campbell University, Elon University, Meredith College, NC State University, Peace College, and Shaw University.
The theme for the 2003-04 season was "Austria Autumn, American Spring, Italian Finale." Works by Schubert, Mozart, Bruckner, Strauss, and Mahler were featured in the fall. Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring was a highlight of the spring semester, which culminated in a concert production of the Barber of Seville, performed in Italian in collaboration with professional opera singers.
In 2005-6, we focused on works by various German
composers, including Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony, Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 in C minor, and, in celebration of the 250th anniversary
of Mozart’s birth, a concert performance of The
Marriage of Figaro, again in collaboration with
professional opera singers. In 2006-07, the DSO celebrated the works of Mozart and Shostakovich in honor of the composers’ anniversaries (250th and 100th, respectively.) The highlight of the 2007-08 season was a performance of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel with professional opera singers.
Each spring, the DSO travels to Beaufort, SC to perform a benefit concert for Beaufort Memorial Hospital’s Keyserling Cancer Center. In five years, the DSO has raised over $110,000 for the Center.
2008-9 schedule:
- Sunday, August 31, 6 pm - Pops Concert
East Campus Main Quad (rain location: Baldwin Auditorium) - Wednesday, October 8, 8 pm - with guest artists Hsiao-mei Ku, violin and Jonathan Bagg, viola
Baldwin Auditorium
Vorísek, Symphony in D Major
Stamitz, Sinfonia Concertante in D Major
Dvorák, Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88 - Saturday, October 25, 8 pm - Parents' Weekend Concert
Duke Chorale, Symphony Orchestra, and Wind Symphony
Duke Chapel - Wednesday, December 3, 8 pm - with guest artist Brian Johnson, baritone
Baldwin Auditorium
A Salute to Ralph Vaughan Williams: Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1 in E Minor, Songs of Travel, Symphony No. 5 in D Major - Wednesday, March 4, 8 pm - featuring Anthony Kelley, composer/pianist, and the winner of the Student Concerto Competition
Baldwin Auditorium
Haydn, Symphony No. 45 in F sharp minor
Kelley, Africamerica: Sound Images for Piano and Orchestra
Haydn, Symphony No. 104 in D Major, "London" - Wednesday, April 15, 8 pm - with Duke's "Antic Shakespeare Company" (Jay O’Berski, Director) and Jung Oh, soprano (first fairy),
Teresa Buchholz, soprano (second fairy), and the Durham Children's Choir (fairy chorus, Scott Hill, Director)
Baldwin Auditorium
Felix Mendelssohn's Overture and Incidental Music to William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, presented with an abridged version of the play prepared under the supervision of R. Larry Todd, Daryl W. Palmer, Jay O’Berski - Saturday, April 18, 3 PM - PRISM Concert - gala performance featuring the Duke Chorale, Collegium Musicum, Djembe Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Opera Workshop, Symphony Orchestra, and Wind Symphony
Baldwin Auditorium
For auditions students are asked to play parts of a movement from a composition of their own choice (a concerto, sonata, etc.) and to sight-read a brief excerpt.
For information about joining the Duke Symphony Orchestra, please contact Professor Harry Davidson at (919) 660-3324 or hdavid@duke.edu.
Visit the DSO's student-run homepage!