Professor starts local symphony

Georgia College is now the new home of the Oconee Regional Symphony Orchestra. Directed by Dr. Victor Vallo, professor of music and chair of the Department of Music at Georgia College, the orchestra has prospects to be a huge success.

The symphony is the first college-community ensemble to be introduced to Georgia College.

“The ORSO is unique because it’s a full symphony orchestra,” Dr. Dan Auerbach, assistant professor of music and vice president concert master said.

This is the first community orchestra encompassing all ages that Georgia College has seen.

“We are open to a wide range of ages from sixteen to senior citizens who haven’t played in a while,” Vallo said.

The orchestra is looking to have around 50-60 musicians as part of the orchestra– strings making up a large portion of that number.

“I enjoy conducting and creating orchestras,” Vallo said.

Vallo has been ready to begin the new orchestra since his arrival to Georgia College in the Fall of 2010.

“I saw that the need was apparent for a full symphony orchestra in the Baldwin county area, and decided to make something out of it. We’re trying to form something that was already here, we’re just polishing it. It’s like a sculpture we’re molding to make a shape,” Vallo said.

Dr. Gerald Adkins, professor of computer science, will be both a principle administrator and a French horn performer in the orchestra.

“It’s going to be a unique cultural experience,” Adkins said. “I’m excited about a new beginning, because we’re bringing to the community a different cultural experience for both the younger and older people of the community. We’re looking at about 8 counties to make up the orchestra, Baldwin being the center.”

Kane Lewis, junior music major with a concentration in music composition, has been playing the violin for nine years. Although Lewis has not been part of a sym

phony for three years, he says he is  ready to jump into this new opportunity.

“It’s going to be a new experience having the whole community be a part of the orchestra,” Lewis said. “All we’ve had in the past were Christmas and Spring concerts, and that was only within Georgia College, so having more people from the community will be a great new experience.”

The ORSO plans to have two concerts in the upcoming year. “Classical Favorites,” the orchestras first performance, will be held on Oct. 16, 2011, in Russell Auditorium at 3 p.m. The concert will include pieces by Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Bizet and many others. “An Afternoon of Overtures” will be performed on March 11, 2012, in Russell Auditorium at 3 p.m. Both concerts will be free to the public.

Although the ORSO has had successful auditions, it is continuing to recruit string players. Any students, community members or faculty interested in participating are welcome to attend rehearsals on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in the Max Noah Auditorium inside Porter Hall, or contact Dr. Victor Vallo at victor.vallo@gcsu.edu or visit oconeeregionalsymphonyorchestra.org for more information.

Posted by Anna Walton on Aug 25 2011. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.