<p>Parents with Junior band students take note: if they are streaming the Honor Band concerts throughout the weekend (finale is on Sunday), it is worth having a look, if your student is interested in continuing music at UA. The Honor Band festival (for lack of a better word) is held every late Jan/early Feb, and bring together top high school students from around the state (and nation). It is a great way to see the music dept, and I believe some music scholarships may be auditioned for at that time. </p>
<p>You do not need to be a music major to try out for ANY of UA’s great musical ensembles. Most can be for class credit…and some even give you a small stipend. Although I am not a band parent, I can still say Thank you, UA Football for funding such a great music program! Roll Tide!</p>
<p>Reminding that the Huxford Symphony will perform this Thurs Oct 16th 2014, at 7.30 pm - this should be live streamed on UStream: <a href=“http://www.ustream.tv/channel/uofa-som”>http://www.ustream.tv/channel/uofa-som</a> (usually will not go live until immediately prior to 7.30). Ravel, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky 4 - a very ambitious program. $3 adm for students; $5 seniors; $10 general.</p>
<p>Also there is the FREE Fall Spectrum concert on Fri Oct 17th, at 7.30 pm, featuring the Huxford (only Tchaik excerpt from Thurs concert) + a sampling from all other instrumental and vocal ensembles. Should be live streamed as well. FREE admission!!!</p>
<p>For those students interested in continuing to perform music while in college, but not necessarily as music majors, these concerts will give you a feel for the caliber of the program.</p>
<p>Another Huxford performance tonight, November 17th 2014 - this time in collaboration w/ the UA Contemporary Ensemble, to honor Ms. Camilla Huxford. May be live-streamed (not sure - use link above, Post #21, right at 7.30 pm). The tuxedo is sure getting a work out these past few years, under the direction of Dr. Blake Richardson. ;)</p>
<p>Any prospective talented musical students interested in continuing w/ their music performance (but not necessarily as a music major) please DO consider the UA’s many, many music ensembles and programs! </p>
<p>^^^Agreed, UA has some amazingly talented ensemble’s and soloists. You can continue your musical interests and education even if you are not a music major.
BTW, Love the live streams, especially nice for the OOS parents.</p>
There was an article in the Crimson White about the Huxford and this concert yesterday: http://www.cw.ua.edu/article/2015/04/huxford-to-play-final-concert-of-2014-15-season. It pretty much sums up why my son does this. Dr. Richardson has been an amazing addition (2 years ago now), and has elevated things substantially with his expectations.
Please, if any prospective student wants info on this group, please PM me for information. You CAN continue to play in college at UA, even if you are not a music major!
Anyone wanting to view the Huxford on YouTube, here is the link from their Oct 15, 2015 concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pIVkhk4IfY&feature=em-share_video_user
The program was
Dvorak: Carnival Overture
Faure: Pelleas and Melisande Suite, op. 80 (you may recognise this as Debussy instead - he bought/adapted Faure’s work)
Ravel/arr. Grainger: Le vallée des cloches
Ravel: Rapsodie Espagnole
There is intentional silence for the first few minutes as they warm up…then sound comes on when Concert Master comes out to tune.
These concerts are livestreamed (details above in other posts)…and this is a rare time when they have made a video recording as well and posted it.
The next UA concert is this Fri Oct 23, 2015, and is called “Spectrum”. It will feature the Huxford playing the Star Wars Suite, along with other UA ensembles. Thanks for tuning in!
Thanks for posting these. My son is an engineering violinist, who likes to attend when he can (unfortunately he has lab on Thur evenings). How can one stay abreast of these performances? I know about http://music.ua.edu/events/, but nowhere does it mention the program for Spectrum or even the Oct 15th concert.
^ @WashJohnGalt, I subscribe to UA’s calendar of events. Try here for all UA events (‘Subscribe’ tab/button at top): http://events.ua.edu/ and you can filter this subscription to get only what category of events you want… or look here for just music-related events: http://music.ua.edu/calendar-of-events/. I’m not sure why that link did not give you what you were looking for, before, but I suspect it was because they were in the middle of some changes.
The SOM webpages went through a substantial update (completed just this week, I believe), and they (whoever ‘they’ are) are making the SOM be tucked under College of Arts & Sciences…which is a shame, because now it is more difficult to find (IMO). (Note that this was not the case w/ University Bands, which is separate to the SOM anyway…long story…) Most students who are interested in music may not think to look for the SOM under the A&S college. Most schools have a separate School of Music (if they have one)…ho hum.
Also, it appears that some information is now missing from the new (‘improved’?) webpages, so this is also a disappointment to me (as a parent). They used to have the Huxford’s complete calendar up there, e.g., and now you have to search by each event/month. The UA Music Calendar is very complete, I give them that! - you just have to wade through every concert date to find what you are looking for! You can always follow the SOM/Music activities on twitter or facebook, as they suggest, but I don’t use either of these media, so I don’t know how reliable those are for keeping up to date with things. If you cannot find what you are looking for, please do voice your thoughts to the SOM folks, and good luck, music listeners!
Concert is starting at 7.30 pm tonight (Nov 16) if anyone is interested. Wonderful music on the program: Beethoven’s Symphony no. 4 & Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (1919). Tune in at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/uofa-som . My son is the standing bassist (the others sit). Let me know if other CC’ers have students in this orchestra. Director Richardson’s moment of silence for the French was touching. As was the first, added piece. Rossini died in Paris on November 13th, 1868. I’ll have to ask my son, but they would have learned that piece just today.
How competitive is it to get into the orchestra? My D plays viola and would love to participate but I wonder about the competitiveness at such a large school. Any idea how many kids try out vs how many get in?
I can’t really answer your question @me29034, because the answer will depend on your student’s ability and the rigor of your high school’s music program. Our school district has 3 high schools; at least 1 of these is regularly a Grammy Signature School Finalist, and the other 2 are regularly Grammy SS semi-finalists. (they rotate around the accolades) About 1/3 of our entire student body takes music curricular-ly in our schools. Our high school has 6 orchestras. The music played in our top 2 Chamber Orchestras is already at the level which will be found at a large university. We have a very strong music program.
Strings in the South takes a back seat to band music and ensembles, so I can say that UA is always looking for more talented strings players.
The Huxford Orchestra holds auditions right before school starts, often the weekend of regular move-in ~Aug 15-17. The audition music is posted online, and students can view the excerpts and see if they are at that level in their playing. I believe the auditions are blind (they have been in the past), and students are expected to prepare their own short solo selection as well. Sight reading can also be part of the audition.
If you contact either the Huxford Director, Dr. Blake Richardson, or the instrument professor, either will be very helpful to you. Here is the Huxford website for reference: http://music.ua.edu/ensembles/huxford-symphony-orchestra/.
And, here is a link to the concert from Monday night, Nov 16, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTkyQSg81M8&sns=em
This is unedited, so tuning doesn’t start until 9:15.
This concert featured a tribute to the French by a moment of silence at the beginning of the evening, followed by the Intermezzo opera “Cavalleria Rusticana” by Pietro Mascagni (not Rossini, as I had previously posted). Enjoy!
@aeromom Thanks for the link. This will help my D determine if she is at the right level. She did look at the audition page and thought it sounded reasonable. Its hard to judge because our school doesn’t have anywhere near the size music program that yours has. Our orchestra did win the “Gold” designation in our annual state competition last year and got to play at Symphony Hall in Boston (very cool experience) so they’re not bad, but its hard to know what is expected to play at the college level.
I did just take a peek at the video and the one thing that jumped out at me was that it was over an hour long. She has never done a performance for that long before. Our school concerts are shared between all the instrumental ensembles so typically each plays only 3 or 4 pieces.
There is a concert on right now…it is being live streamed on Youtube (search for Michael Wilk and he’s the guy with an electric guitar). Sorry for any confusion in those trying to view this amazing concert on UStream.
They are playing a violin concerto + Mahler tonight.
