The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra
The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of interim conductor Gregory Aune, has returned from its annual spring concert tour to present the final concert of the tour in Christ Chapel, Sunday, April 11 at 1:30 p.m. The performance will include selections from the tour program and includes works by Schubert, Faure, Elgar, Greig, Amundson and Bernstein. The symphony’s home concert is free and open to the public.
The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra is in its 122nd season at Gustavus and is led by interim conductor Gregory Aune. Aune, long-time conductor of the Gustavus Choir, has assumed artistic director responsibilities of the symphony in this transition year. Over a 35-year career in conducting, Dr. Aune has acquired an impressive resume conducting both choral and orchestral masterworks and orchestral literature which includes Mozart’s Requiem, Brahms’ German Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, among others.
In September, Ruth Lu Lin will assume responsibility for the string program at Gustavus as she begins her new role as Conductor of the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra. Lin has earned her graduate degrees in orchestral conducting and has served as director of orchestra studies and conducting at Iowa State University for the past 2 years. She possesses an extensive and impressive list of conducting experience, including the Iowa State University Orchestra, guest conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra, and conductor/founder of the Good Samaritan Symphony Orchestra.
One of the first ensembles formed at the college, the Gustavus Symphony’s tradition of programming great compositions of western symphonic literature, while including contemporary works on its programs, continues. Sunday’s performance opens with the Symphony No. 9 “The Great” by Franz Schubert and continues with Gabriel Faure’s Pavane, Op. 50 and the Triumphal March from Caractacus, Op. 35 by Edward Elgar. Following intermission, the symphony will return to the stage with Edvard Greig’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 and Steven Amundson’s The Gift, composed in 2005 as a memorial for one of Amundson’s former students. Sunday’s home concert by the Gustavus Symphony concludes with the Overture to Candide by Leonard Bernstein.
Sunday’s home concert by the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra begins at 1:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.