Orchestra plays classics

Students, faculty and the general public were welcomed Tuesday night to the Roland Hayes Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Center to hear classical music written by composers during the mid 1700s and 1900s, according to the concert's program. Jooyong Ahn, professor of conducting and director of orchestras said: "The first piece begins with the overture, which is a short piece, and the last piece is a symphony. Only the instruments are played at this time."

Tuesday night, the UTC Symphony was joined by Desirée Soteres, a soprano soloist and native of Chattanooga. Ahn was first introduced to Soteres through his wife a year and a half ago, he said.

Recently, Ahn invited her to sing with the Chattanooga Symphony last year. As for last Tuesday's performance Soteres selected five pieces she would sing during the opera, he said.

In all, each song was performed in a different language including French, Portuguese, German, English and Italian, according to Ahn.

Terry Sanford, the Administration Specialist

for the Music Department, said he gets the word out about performances by preparing press releases and sending them to the local newspaper, TV stations, classical music stations, and community Web sites.

Sanford said some students can earn a small scholarship for playing in an ensemble.

Although the orchestra is created for UTC students, there were other participants last Tuesday night.

Sanford said if there is anyone in the Chattanooga community who wants to be involved in the symphony, they can join the Cadek Community Orchestra.

Members from this group played with the UTC Symphony last Tuesday, which is also directed by Ahn.

After attending the concert, Sanford described Ahn's performance as "animated."

"[Y]ou have a soloist who is just dancing all over the stage. It just makes it more interesting and appealing to someone who doesn't really know what all is going on," he said.

Sanford said whenever he attends an orchestra concert it gives him enough energy to begin work the following day.

"The UTC symphony has grown double since last year. This is the biggest turn out," Ahn said.

"[Romantic period pieces] show the character in the music," he said.

Ahn said last year he was unable to conduct any Romantic era pieces because the orchestra only consisted of between 30 and 35 members.

"Now the pieces fit into the usefulness of the orchestra," he said.

Barrett Frederick, a freshman from Nashville, plays the cello in the UTC orchestra.

Frederick said his favorite piece from the performance was the Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.

"It's the hardest to prepare for but it's the most intense and passionate piece that I was involved in. It has so many movements," Frederick said. "It's slow at one point and then it's fast."

Even though this is Frederick's first year playing, he is aware of how much the orchestra has evolved over the years.

As a part of that evolution, Frederick describes what he feels whenever he is performing.

"Most of the time it is excitement and a lot of anxiousness because you're worried about if you're going to mess up," Frederick said. "But during the middle of it, you can actually get chills because you're like, wow, we really sound good."

Ahn currently teaches advanced conducting for graduate conducting students and instrumental conducting for music education majors.

This semester he teaches history of symphony music.

Ahn holds auditions for the orchestra at the beginning of each semester.