Contact: Sasha Steinberg

The Starkville-Mississippi State University Symphony Orchestra is announcing its “String Symposium” concert Friday [Sept. 18].

Sponsored by the Starkville-MSU Symphony Association, the free 7:30 p.m. performance takes place on Mississippi University for Women’s campus in Rent Auditorium. Among the works featured are those by Classical and Romantic-era composers, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91), Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) and Franz Schubert (1797-1828).

The performance opens with the overture to Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” (1786).

Julia Mortyakova, MUW music department chair, and fellow assistant professor of music Valentin Bogdan, will perform with the orchestra on Saint-Saëns’ “Le Carnaval des animaux,” or “Carnival of the Animals” (1886).

Composed of 14 movements, the work comprised of musical vignettes describing a variety of animals has entertained audiences for the past century. American poet Ogden Nash (1902-71) wrote a series of short and humorous poems to complement each movement of the suite. MUW President Jim Borsig will recite the poems prior to each movement.

The Friday evening concert concludes with Schubert’s “Symphony No. 3 in D major” (1815). In addition to the 65-member professional orchestra, the string sections will be extended by guest high schools from Mississippi and Tennessee, as well as college string musicians from MSU and MUW.

For additional concert information, contact Michael Brown, MSU music professor and SSO music director, at 662-325-3070 or mbrown@colled.msstate.edu.

Founded in 1969, the Starkville-MSU Symphony Association is a non-profit volunteer organization whose members work to educate, enlighten and share classical music with the city, university campus and other communities in the Golden Triangle region. Producing high-quality musical events and increasing awareness for the arts are its primary missions. For more, visit www.starkvillesymphony.org and facebook.com/StarkvilleSymphony.

In addition to MSU and the City of Starkville, major association contributors include the J.W. Criss Foundation, Mississippi Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Renasant Bank, Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau and Columbus-based Gildea Foundation.

The association accepts tax-deductible donations via the MSU Foundation. To contribute, contact Lynn Durr at 662-325-8918 or ldurr@advservices.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.