Dylan Emerson

Mr. Jeffrey Cloutier

MUS 2950

23 November 2021

Concert Review - UCCS Music Program

For this performance, I watched the UCCS Symphony Orchestra perform at the

Shockley-Zalabak theater. This concert featured faculty member Glen Whitehead conducting the

UCCS Symphony Orchestra. Of the symphony, I am not certain who all performed, as I am

unfamiliar with most of the members of the UCCS Symphony Orchestra. I enjoyed their music

selection because it was intense and exciting without being too overbearing. The ensemble also

did a great job controlling their dynamics to make the performance more interesting, with their

louds and quiets being easily distinguishable. Because this concert took place in a theater, the

sound seemed to carry very well throughout the venue.

I immediately recognized Gustav Holst’s “Mars” about halfway through the concert and

was impressed with how clean the ensemble performed the aggressive staccato notes. Mars is a

challenging song to play, but when played well, it is an entire experience! Some pieces felt a

little sloppier than others, though. At one point, the brass section performed a piece with just the

six of the members, but something felt off about their performance, and it definitely fell short for

me. Quite often, the ensemble played out of time or not in tune with each other, which is

something I was not expecting of a collegiate level ensemble. With that being said, the whole

ensemble performed the slower pieces well, and they were quite pleasant to listen to. During the

slower pieces, the performers really shined as the sound of their instruments filled up the venue.
The performers also did a great job of feeling the music; a lot of the performers had quite a bit of

movement and were feeling the performance, which really sold the concert for me.

The Symphony Orchestra performance overall did not hit the mark for me. Although I

greatly enjoyed their rendition of Gustav Holst’s “Mars,” as that is one of my favorite classical

pieces, the rest of the performance largely fell short for me. Some of the music selections

themselves were also a little questionable, such as one towards the end of the concert that had a

descending clarinet line that seemed to drone on for a long time and cut through the rest of the

ensemble. Even though the performance itself did not hit the mark, I still think the performers

did a good job, and I enjoyed the level of performance they displayed.