CofC Orchestra Concert Previews Carnegie Hall Performance
On Dec. 2, 2024, the College of Charleston Orchestra will give a taste of its 2025 Carnegie Hall tour and highlight the talents of CofC faculty.
Above: The College of Charleston Orchestra performed at the Kennedy Center during the Capital Orchestra Festival on Feb. 20, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Cade Martin)
On Feb. 26, 2025, the College of Charleston Orchestra will have the experience of a lifetime performing in one of the most prestigious venues in the world – Carnegie Hall. Their performance, together with performances by the Charleston Symphony and Charleston Symphony Youth Orchestra, will give the New York City audience a taste of the cultural jewels of Charleston.
Charleston locals don’t have to travel all the way to New York to enjoy the sounds of the College’s prestigious orchestra. Conductor Yuriy Bekker has planned an exciting sendoff concert featuring the repertoire that the orchestra will perform at Carnegie Hall, for Dec. 2, 2024, in the College of Charleston Sottile Theatre. It includes selections from Dvořák’s New World Symphony, which premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1893, and the world premiere of Corsaro, by CofC music professor Yiorgos Vassilandonakis.
“It’s always exciting when someone composes something specific for our group,” says Bekker. “As an orchestra, we get to take ownership, as this piece has been written just for us. Professor Vassilandonakis has a personal connection to us, and the orchestra takes great pride in premiering this work.
“I am thrilled that we’ll perform works from our upcoming Carnegie Hall tour,” adds Bekker, noting that he is “especially excited that this concert puts our own faculty musicians in the spotlight. Violinist Lee-Chin Siow and cellist Natalia Khoma will be featured in a performance of a selection from Brahms’ Concerto for Violin and Cello. This work is a blockbuster, showcasing the soloists and the orchestra, with the orchestral tutti sections being especially elaborate. In a way, it is like a miniature symphony with two soloists.”
In addition to pieces by Dvořák and Vassilandonakis, members of the College of Charleston Orchestra will showcase their musical prowess in Carnegie Hall through another exciting work written by former faculty member Trevor Weston, who previously taught music theory courses at the College. Now a professor at Juilliard and Drew University, he composed a piece about the New York subway titled Subwaves.
RELATED: Read about one student who performed with the CofC Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and will be performing at Carnegie Hall.
“Our Carnegie Hall debut is a cultural celebration of Charleston in NYC,” says Bekker. “Performing this piece is a fun crossover and perfectly embodies the spirit of this trip.”
This is not the first time that the College’s Orchestra has traveled to a prestigious venue to showcase its talents. In 2023, the orchestra was one of four select orchestras to perform for the exclusive Capital Orchestra Festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Tickets for the CofC Orchestra concert in the Sottile Theatre (44 George St.) at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, are $25–$45 for general admission with discounts available for CofC students, faculty and staff. Purchase them from the George Street Box Office in person, online, via email or by phone at 843.953.4726.
