The DePauw University Orchestra prioritizes ensemble development through repertoire for this all-undergraduate ensemble. Auditions for entry suggest a standard for participation. Graded Excerpt Testing before each concert and rotational seating bring focus on intentionality to each student’s playing. The purposeful breadth of repertoire each year is linked to a more comprehensive view across four years of participation. The orchestra presents a number of full orchestra-only concerts, which may include faculty soloists; performs in the pit for DePauw Opera performances; works with Pulitzer Prize-winning composers to perform their pieces in the Music of the 21st Century festival; plays a Holiday Gala; accompanies student winners of the annual DePauw Concerto Winner’s Concert; and presents an annual, year-end large-scale Choral Orchestral event with repertoire like Beethoven Symphony No. 9 or Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem. Every other January, during DePauw’s Winter Term, the nucleus of the DePauw University Orchestra undertakes a concert tour abroad as the DePauw Chamber Symphony. Recent tours have included Japan, Austria, Germany, and England.
Recent Repertoire:
Pines of Roma — Ottorino Respighi
Symphony No. 7 — Ludvig van Beethoven
Pictures at an Exhibition — Modest Mussorgsky
Voices Shouting Out — Nkeiru Okoye
Hansel and Gretel — Engelbert Humperdinck