\u201cI enjoy putting classical music into a historical context,\u201d says Rachel Waddell, music director and conductor of orchestras in the Department of Music at the University of Rochester. \u201cThe audience can relate it back to what\u2019s happening today. It\u2019s a way to get people to listen to classical music in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waddell, who joined the University in 2017, planned her opening season to reflect the diversity within the University and to call attention to important historical events.<\/p>\n
Last December, the Symphony Orchestra performed a program entitled \u201cIn Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday, March 3, Waddell will lead the orchestra in a musical exploration of immigration<\/a>, in which the ensemble will present Antonin Dvo\u0159\u00e1k\u2019s popular New World Symphony<\/em> (1893), and, along with dancers from the University\u2019s Program of Dance and Movement,<\/a> Cole Porter\u2019s little known ballet, \u201cWithin the Quota\u201d (1923).<\/p>\n Both works convey impressions of coming to America at the turn of the 20th century. Porter\u2019s piece, Waddell notes, is actually the first jazz ballet ever written, preceding George Gershwin\u2019s An American in Paris<\/em> by five years.<\/p>\n The audience will also be invited to join the performers in the lobby to place pins on a world map to mark where they or their ancestors once called home.<\/p>\n Waddell hopes that the performance will stimulate conversation about immigration, demonstrating the continued resonance of classical music in the process.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to show people that classical music isn\u2019t just an old relic, and that it\u2019s evolving, changing, and connecting back to how we live today,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen the audience comes out, we hope to stimulate discussion about the place that immigration has in our society. We need to have an active conversation about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nUpcoming Department of Music performances<\/strong><\/h3>\n