UNH Symphony Orchestra
About the Symphony
The University Symphony Orchestra is an ensemble comprised of both undergraduate and graduate students that performs at least 4 times during the academic year. It is open to any student at the university by audition. Non-majors are particularly welcome to join!
The UNHSO is a full symphony orchestra that plays pieces from all eras and styles of the repertoire, from Baroque masters to new compositions.The orchestra is led by Dr. David Upham. Rehearsals are held in the Paul Creative Arts Center on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:10-12:30. String players are highly encouraged to participate in the additional string sectionals that immediately precede the full orchestra rehearsals from 10:10-11:00.
UNH Fall Orchestra Festival
On Saturday, October 15th, the UNH Orchestra will host over 80 high school string players in the 2011 UNH Fall Orchestra Festival. The event is also co-sponsored by NHASTA, the New Hampshire chapter of the American String Teachers Association. The festival will provide the high school musicians the opportunity to rehearse and perform with UNH woodwind, brass, and percussion sections, under the leadership of Dr. David Upham and Dr. Mark Latham. A free public concert will be given that evening at 7pm in the Johnson Theater in the Paul Creative Arts Center.
Students applied for the festival in the spring of 2011 through their private studio and public school teachers. The number of applications was overwhelming, and was great enough to merit the creation of two festival orchestras. The Festival Symphony Orchestra will feature over 50 string players with the UNH winds and brass. It will be led by Mark Latham, the conductor of the New Hampshire Youth Symphony, and will perform selections including Aram Khachaturian’s “Waltz” from Masquerade, Alexander Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia, and Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia.
The Festival Chamber Orchestra will be a select group of about 30 high school string musicians, again performing with UNH winds and brass. It will be led by UNH’s Orchestra Conductor, David Upham. The group’s evening performance will feature the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No.1, Jean Sibelius’ Valse Triste, and “The Enchanted Garden” from Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite. The evening concert will begin with Dr. Upham also leading the UNH Symphony Orchestra in Glinka’s Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla and selections from Alberto Ginastera’s Four Dances from Estancia.
If you have any questions regarding the UNH Fall Orchestra Festival, please contact Dr. David Upham at David.Upham@unh.edu.
How to join the Symphony Orchestra
Auditions for the woodwinds, brass, and percussion are held only in the fall. String players may audition and join the ensemble at the beginning of either semester. Additional information about the audition process can be found here.
Strings: Prepare a 5-minute chair placement audition that includes…
The required excerpt for your instrument. Excerpts can be found in the Paul Creative Arts Center outside of room M203 and here in .PDF format.
If you wish, you may also present a solo or etude that best demonstrates your abilities. The piece should be 2 minutes in length (maximum) and is to be presented in addition the the required excerpts.
Sign up for an audition time on the list posted next to the audition excerpts outside of M203. Auditions are from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday September 1, 2011, and will be held in the Bratton Recital Hall, M135. Evening audition times are available beginning at 5:30 p.m. if you are absolutely unable to make the morning time, or if the morning times are filled.
Wind, Brass, and Percussion:
Prepare a short etude or excerpt from a solo.
Prepare both required excerpts for your instrument. Excerpts can be found in the Paul Creative Arts Center outside M203.
Sign up for an audition time on the list posted next to the audition excerpts outside M203. You will play your symphony audition during the time posted for your instrument. You can audition for the UNH Bands at the same time.
Please contact Dr. David Upham in M212A (David.Upham@unh.edu) with any questions you may have.
2011-12 Performance Calendar
All performances are held in the Johnson Theatre, Paul Creative Arts Center, on the UNH Durham campus.
Admission is free and open to the public.
Saturday, October 15, 2011. 7:00 p.m. UNH Fall Orchestra Festival Performance
Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 8:00 p.m. Ravel: Mother Goose Suite/ Ginastera: Dances from Estancia,
Glinka: Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla
Sunday, December 4, 2011, 8:00 p.m. Borodin: Symphony No. 2, more
Friday, March 2, 2012, 8:00 p.m. Milhaud: Concerto for Percussion and Small Orchestra, Op. 109
Mozart: Overture to La Clemenza di Tito
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture
Thursday, May 3, 2012, 8:00 p.m. Shostakovich: Festive Overture
Stravinsky: Suite No. 1 for Small Orchestra
Borodin: Symphony No. 2
About the Conductor
Dr. David Upham came to the University of New Hampshire from Seattle, Washington, where he was active as a conductor of professional, community, and student ensembles. He was the Music Director of the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra and the founding director of the Young Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra at the Seattle Conservatory of Music until his departure. Dr. Upham also served as the Associate Conductor of the Rainier Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Upham also regularly conducted with various professional ballet orchestras including Ballet Bellevue and Emerald Ballet Theatre, and was a featured guest conductor with the Northwest Mahler Festival. Locally he has appeared as a guest conductor with the Portsmouth (NH) Symphony Orchestra. In November of 2009, he made his international debut at the contemporary music festival, Aujourd’hui Musiques, in Perpignan, France to critical and popular acclaim.
Dr. Upham is in demand as an educator and clinician as well. He has led orchestras at festivals across the country, including programs in Massachusetts, Kansas, Iowa, Washington and New Hampshire. He serves as faculty at the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival in the Midwest, at the Summer Youth Music School at UNH, and at the Vivace Chamber Players festival in Seattle. He had a long tenure with the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras, serving as conductor or assistant with each of the organization’s five orchestras. He conducted at SYSO’s Marrowstone Summer Music in 2006. He will conduct the 2012 New Hampshire All-State Orchestra.
A strong supporter of music in the public schools, Dr. Upham had a successful 10-year career as a public school music educator, leading elementary, middle school, and high school orchestral programs in Kent and Bellevue, WA. In his position at Newport High School in Bellevue, WA, he developed a thriving program with 120 string students across 3 orchestras. The Newport students consistently won top awards at various orchestral and chamber music festivals throughout the Pacific Northwest.