The University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra performed its "Majestic Sibelius" concert despite an air conditioning outage in the Mannoni Performing Arts Center on April 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Concert attendees were notified of the outage more than an hour before the event through an Instagram post by the USM Symphony Orchestra account. Performers were informed at the same time via email. The post stated that the show would proceed as scheduled and encouraged concertgoers to "dress accordingly and consider bringing bottled water."
The concert began with the presentation of the annual Themis Award by Colin McKenzie, director of the School of Music. The Themis Award is given to an individual who has contributed significantly to the orchestra. This year, it was awarded to Iris Easterling for her "extraordinary and tireless dedication to the USM Symphony Orchestra," McKenzie said.
Students in the orchestra performed four pieces during the evening on the Thomas V. Fraschillo stage: “Starburst” by Jessie Montgomery, “Violin Concerto” by Jean Sibelius, “Raman” by Kareem Roustom and “Symphony No. 7 in C” by Sibelius.
The “Violin Concerto” featured Borislava Iltcheva, a violin professor at USM. In a social media post prior to the concert, Iltcheva said she was “extraordinarily excited” for the performance. She said she was eager to perform among her students, whom she refers to as her “kids.”
One of her students, Lucas Gonzalez, a sophomore violin performance major and second violinist in the concert, said the performance was challenging.
“This performance was challenging mentally because it’s very taxing to play the things that we have played,” Gonzalez said. He said the lack of air conditioning may have had a slight effect on the performance, possibly noticeable only to performers familiar with the pieces. “It took a lot of mental and physical effort to be able to play, but overall, it was a great experience.”
The opener, “Starburst” by Montgomery, served as the concert’s contemporary piece. The concert earned the title "Majestic Sibelius" because of the two masterworks by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, who lived from 1865 to 1957. His seventh symphony is known for being composed in a single movement and is considered one of his most original works.
“We have had the most amazing journey to Hattiesburg here, and I cannot begin to thank enough my colleagues within the School of Music,” said Gregory Wolynec, the orchestra’s director. “But most importantly, I need to thank 80 of the most amazing individuals that I’ve ever had a chance to work with.”
Wolynec concluded the concert by thanking the orchestra for their hard work and their positive attitude during the air conditioning outage.
The performance marked the conclusion of the USM Symphony Orchestra’s 105th season.
