Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio

The Paisano

Saving the best for last

UTSA+Orchestra%E2%80%99s+Aria+Competition+Winners+Concert+in+2011.+Courtesy+of+Dept.+of+Music
UTSA Orchestra’s Aria Competition Winners Concert in 2011. Courtesy of Dept. of Music

The UTSA Orchestra will be performing their annual UTSA Aria Competition Winners Concert, which will feature vocal competition winners performing with the UTSA Orchestra.

On April 22 at 3 p.m. the concert will be hosted in the UTSA recital hall and will be free of charge to all UTSA students as well a $5 admission fee for non-students.

This will be the final concert of the 2017-2018 season and will feature two soloists who have been named the winners of the UTSA Annual Aria Competition.

The winners who will be soloing in this year’s concert are junior soprano Isabella Garza, who will perform “Song to the Moon” from Antonín Dvořák’s opera Rusalka and senior soprano Ashley Logan, who will perform “Glitter and be Gay” from Leonard Bernstein’s 20th century operetta Candide.

Ashley Logan. Courtesy of UTSA Dept. of Music
Isabella Garza. Courtesy of UTSA Dept. of Music

The Overture to Candide and Schubert’s mysterious symphonic experience the “Unfinished Symphony” will also be be featured in the concert’s repertoire.

In observance of San Antonio’s Tricentennial celebration, the UTSA Orchestra will include the world premiere of renowned San Antonio composer Charlie Hill’s orchestral work entitled “The Missions.”

Hill’s work commemorates the five 18th century Spanish Missions along the San Antonio River that were designated as World Heritage Sites by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2015. Hill will be in attendance for the world premiere of his work.

The theme for this concert season and this concert is Six Degrees of Separation, which is inspired by the social psychological theory that everyone on Earth is connected by six social associations between people all over the world.

Dr. Eugene Dowdy, the interim Music Dept. chair and Orchestra director, interprets this theory through a musical lense; all people are connected through common passions for art–the relationship between people is a mutual emotional experience through the universal language of music.

Dr. Dowdy describes the thesis of the concert, “In this way, outstanding music can make the world seem much smaller when many people are connected through those performances.”

To find dates for more UTSA music events, visit music.utsa.edu.

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