Chamber Orchestra
Chamber Orchestra General Information
The University of Rochester Chamber Orchestra's (URCO) 40 student musicians present four free concerts each year in the University of Rochester's Henry Alvah Strong Auditorium on the River Campus. Led by Dr. David Harman, The orchestra also performs in satellite locations throughout the Rochester community and tours both in the United States and internationally. During the spring of 1996, the all-student orchestra toured the island of Jamaica, performing and working with the Jamaica Orchestra for Youth and the Alpha Boys Band as well as giving a gala performance in Kingston's Ward Theatre. During July of 1997, the Chamber Orchestra toured the island of Grand Cayman, B.W.I. In Georgetown, they performed concerts and served as the core orchestra and teaching mentors for the first International Festival for Music Education. One of the performances from the festival was broadcast by Cayman Television. The Orchestra returned to Grand Cayman again in the summer of 1998. In May 1999, the Orchestra toured Italy. Pictures from the Chamber Orchestra's return trip to Grand Cayman in June 2000 are on the website. URCO toured in Montreal, Canada in May 2002, Cleveland, Ohio in May 2004, and Buffalo in 2006. In the winter of 2008, URCO travelled to Santiago, Chile to collaborate with youth orchestras in South America.
Performing music from the Baroque to the Contemporary, the Chamber Orchestra showcases the versatility of the University's students. Membership is open to qualified University of Rochester students. To be considered for membership in URCO, a brief audition is required. Auditions take about 5-7 minutes and will be scheduled on August 30-31. You must secure your audition time in advance by signing up at the Music Department Office in Todd Union. The sign up sheets will be available beginning on August 27. Please prepare about three minutes of a solo which you feel best displays your musicality and level of technical accomplishment. Selections from movements of a major concerto or a sonata would be appropriate choices. Sight-reading from the standard orchestra repertoire will be supplied as well. Audition results will be posted by September 2 in Todd Union. We look forward to hearing you!
Rehearsals are held Mondays from 4:50 to 6:00 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 4:50-7:00 p.m. in Strong Auditorium.
Chamber Orchestra Members
Dr. David Harman, Musical Director and Conductor
A native of northern California, David Harman began his serious musical studies as a clarinetist. He was the assistant conductor of the University Orchestra while earning a B.A. and M.A. in Woodwind Performance from California State University at Sacramento. In 1971 he was awarded a scholarship as a Boursier de l'Etat français by the Fulbright Foundation for advanced study in France at the Paris Conservatory. He also attended master classes given by Erich Leinsdorf, Daniel Lewis and Jorge Mester at the Aspen Music Festival as an orchestral conducting scholarship student. Harman earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester in 1974 at age 25.
Following graduation from Eastman, he assumed the position of coordinator of woodwind instruction, and conductor of the chamber orchestra and opera program at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. He left that position for a similar post at The University of Connecticut in Storrs in 1981. During that time, Dr. Harman also enjoyed an active solo career as a clarinetist with three solo recordings, recital appearances at Carnegie Recital Hall, and London's Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room. Other performances included national concert tours and recorded broadcasts for the B.B.C. Radio Three, France’s O.R.T.F., WGBH in Boston, WQXR in New York City, and National Public Radio. The New York Times review of his 1981 Carnegie Hall debut recital mentioned that “Everything he touched turned to music.”
In 1986, Harman assumed the post of Director of Orchestras at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, a professorship that he held until returning to Rochester in 1993. At U of L he was conductor of the University’s Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Theater. As Executive Director of The Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, he collaborated closely with composers Harrison Birtwistle, John Corigliano, György Ligeti, Witold Lutoslawski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Joan Tower and Chinary Ung. He also served as Music Director of The Louisville Civic Orchestra and as assistant conductor of the Louisville Orchestra.
He continues to appear both as a guest conductor of professional orchestras and as a music educator at university and high school levels. Professional appearances include return engagements with The Louisville Orchestra, The Cincinnati Symphony, The Tucson Symphony, The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, The Lake Placid Sinfonietta, and Opera Theater of Rochester. Harman was also conductor of the Orchestra of the Spring Festival of Contemporary Music in Ljubljana, Slovenia under the sponsorship of Arts America. He also served as guest conductor of The Shanghai Conservatory Symphony (China), The Jamaica Orchestra for Youth (JOY) in Kingston, Jamaica, The Grand Cayman International Music Camp, the New York All-State String Orchestra and, recently, as guest conductor at The University of Wisconsin, Madison.
In 2005, he was named by the Monroe Country School Music Association as recipient of the Richard H. Snook Award for his contributions to music education in the greater Rochester area, and was named Musician of the Year for 2008 by the Rochester Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon.
Since 1993, Dr. Harman has held the posts of Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Rochester River Campus where he conducts the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. For the past eighteen years he has also served as Conductor and Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and has conducted the RPYO in concerts in England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Qu é bec, and Slovakia. In addition, for the past ten seasons he has served as the Music Director of the Penfield Symphony Orchestra. He also conducts the Doctor’s Orchestra at the UR Medical Center and Sinfonietta CordAncia.
Orchestra Staff
David Harman, Music Director
Josef Hanson,
Manager of Music Performance Programs
Chamber Orchestra Audio Samples
Poco Sostenuto-Vivace from Symphony No. 7, Opus 92 (1812) by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Allegretto from Symphony No. 7, Opus 92 (1812) by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
"Kyrie" from Mass in C (1807) by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
performed by the Choir and Chamber Orchestra
SivaSakthi (2000) by Todd Coleman (b. 1970)
performed by the Chamber Orchestra with James VanDemark, bass
Check out the streaming audio performance archives here: http://www.lib.rochester.edu:82/Mur/500Performances/URPerformancesArchive.htm
The University of Rochester Chamber Orchestra released its premiere studio production the fall of 1997. The compact disc included fresh and invigorated performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major as well as an inspired composition by Eastman School of Music graduate Jeremy Gill entitled Yet the Star and Lilac Hold Me. This recording is the first such project by an orchestra on the River Campus.
Want to hear more?
Click below for audio samples of the recording:
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7, Mvt 1
MP3 (41 Seconds; 0.64 MB)
Real Audio (41 Seconds; 0.080 MB)
Gill: Yet the Star and Lilac Hold Me
MP3 (43 Seconds; 0.67 MB)
Real Audio (43 Seconds; 0.085MB)
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Founded in 1993 by music director David Harman, the all-student Chamber Orchestra strives to introduce audiences to new and exciting performances while maintaining the ideals which are so vital to the integrity of their music. Comprised of 40 musicians of diverse academic backgrounds, the student-managed orchestra performs four concerts each year in addition to outreach programs throughout the greater-Rochester Community and around the world.
Chamber Orchestra Photos
URCO Cayman trip, July 2000
Dr. Harman (Conducting)
Chamber Orchestra Jamaica Trip Photo
Children's Concert at Medley Centre: bass drum
Children's Concert at Medley Centre: bass drum close-up
Children's Concert at Medley Centre: violin
Children's Concert at Medley Centre: budding conductor
Children's Concert at Medley Centre: timpani
Children's Concert at Medley Centre: violin II