The UNL Symphony Orchestra presents a concert titled “Firsts and Favorites” on Friday, Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Kimball Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public.
The concert will also be live webcast. Visit https://go.unl.edu/gksomwebcasts the day of the performance for the link.
The UNL Symphony Orchestra is under the direction of Tyler White, Professor of Conducting and Composition and Director of Orchestras.
Featured on the program will be the world premiere of White’s international prize-winning orchestral work, “Talk about flames (Symphony No. 3).”
“The symphony was written in 2019, and that year it was awarded a Silver Medal in the Global Music Awards,” White said.
Also featured in the concert will be Glenn Korff School of Music Professor of Cello Karen Becker in Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ever-popular “Variations on a Rococo Theme.”
The program also includes the music of African-American composer William Grant Still—the aria “What Does He Know of dreams” from the opera “Highway 1, USA” featuring tenor Justin Payne, the winner of the 2024-2025 graduate solo competition; and Felix Mendelssohn’s “The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave).”
“This concert truly has something for everyone, from favorite classics of the Romantic repertoire to new discoveries of the 20th and 21st centuries,” White said. “It’s always a treat to collaborate with my dear colleague Karen Becker, and it’s a real thrill to unveil my own largest and most expansive orchestral work, dedicated to the memory of my late composition teacher and mentor, the Pulitzer-Prize winner Steven Stucky.”
The UNL Symphony Orchestra is made up of students from across the university. The UNL Symphony maintains a national reputation for excellence, recognized by invitations to perform at national and regional conventions of music educators, and by four awards from the National Opera Association.