Bryan College Orchestra Club Holds Fall Concert

Photo: Cameron Wisniewski

Written by Cameron Wisniewski, News Reporter

DAYTON, TN – Bryan College’s Orchestra Club held a concert on Monday, October 10th, at 7:30 p.m. The concert was held in Rudd auditorium. Admission was free, and all attendees were provided a program upon entry. The concert was conducted by Erin Smith.

One of the standout songs was Overture to Poet and Peasant, by Franz von Suppe, and arranged by Smith. As part of the introduction to the piece, Smith said that it was one the entire orchestra enjoyed. This passion paid off, and it was certainly the highlight of the concert.

Reagan Brown, a sophomore at Bryan and student officer in the orchestra, played the flute during the concert. “You get to listen to how the composers thought, and you get to peek into their lives and how they composed their music, because they’re telling a story through their music,” said Brown.

Brown also liked the sense of fellowship that came from being part of the club. “We’ve had to move from an actual class to a club, because there hasn’t been a lot of majors that want to go into instrumental education and stuff like that. Even though we’ve gone to a club, it’s really just a big community…it’s really just a good time to have fellowship and community with other people that have the same interest, and just love playing music and being there together,” said Brown.

Erin Smith, the conductor of the concert, spoke on the planning of the event. “Generally, the idea is to plan long in advance. This semester was planned over the summer, Rudd A was reserved over the summer, the music was arranged at put together over the summer, and that’s generally how I want to approach leading this ensemble, is to be prepared at least one semester ahead, “ said Smith.

Smith also spoke about how the songs were selected for the concert. “Our group is not a full wind ensemble, and we’re not a full orchestra, which means anything that is picked to be on the program has to be arranged to fit the group accordingly, which means when I’m listening to music I need to have that in mind…And I’m trying to make sure that pieces are chosen that will be both challenging and entertaining,” said Smith.

The next orchestra club concert will be held on December 5 and it will be a Christmas themed performance. Other performing arts events include an upcoming play, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, by the Hilltop Players on November 10-12, and an Afternoon Student Recital on November 16.

Cameron Wisniewski is a junior communications major at Bryan College. He is from Georgia, and likes to read and play video games in his spare time.