UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra will present its first concert of the semester at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6, in Eisenhower Auditorium on the University Park campus. The orchestra's program features works by Berlioz and Schumann, as well as a performance of the second movement of Dvořák's cello concerto with 2016 Concerto Competition student winner James Nackley. The orchestra is conducted by Gerardo Edelstein.
General admission tickets are $12, and student tickets are $4. Anyone who buys tickets in advance for School of Music concerts in Eisenhower Auditorium are eligible for a 40 percent discount, and there is no limit on the number of tickets that may be purchased. Purchases made the day of the concert are not eligible for the discount. Tickets are available at any Arts Ticket Center location, by phone at 814-863-0255 or 1-800-ARTS-TIX, or online at the Penn State Arts Ticket Center.
This concert will also be available via livestream video at the Penn State School of Music website.
Nackley, a native of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, is a senior music education major and a cello student of Kim Cook. He was the 2016 winner of the Penn State School of Music's Presser Scholarship, which provides recognition to students who have exhibited a personal dedication to a career in music. In addition, he was chosen as a soloist in the 2015 School of Music “Mosaic” performance. In 2015-16, he was a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Cello Choir, a string quartet, and Campus Orchestra (playing violin and viola). He also sang with the Penn State Glee Club and played French horn in the Campus Band. Nackley is a member of the cello sections of the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra, Williamsport Symphony Orchestra, and the Altoona Symphony Orchestra. A member of Pi Kappa Lambda, he plans to pursue a career teaching strings and orchestra, and to open a private cello studio.
The 90-member philharmonic presents five to six full concerts per academic year. Off campus, the philharmonic has performed throughout the northeastern United States, including concerts at New York City's Carnegie Hall, Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and the MENC Eastern Division Conference in Baltimore. In March 2006, the orchestra participated by invitation in the Sixth International Orchestra Festival in Zaragoza, Spain. The Philharmonic’s repertoire from recent years has included works by Brahms, Debussy, Dvorak, Stravinsky, Beethoven, Mahler, Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninoff, and Wagner. Enrollment, open to all University Park students, is by audition at the beginning of each semester.