Orchestra Spotlights Student Musicians

The Eastern Mennonite University-Community Orchestra will be in concert 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Mar. 29, in EMU’s Lehman Auditorium.

The program will feature winners of an EMU student concerto competition:the senior Nathan N. (Nate) Bontrager on the Saint-Saens “Cello Concerto,” junior Kara S. Glick on the Mendelssohn “Violin Concerto” and senior Jonathan D. Keener on the Beethoven “Piano Concerto #5.” Music from the film, “Pirates of the Caribbean,” will close the concert.

The 50-member orchestral ensemble is conducted by Joan Griffing, chair of EMU’s music department.

Dr. Joan Griffing, conductor Dr. Joan Griffing, conductor

Dr. Griffing teaches violin and viola and coaches chamber music in addition to conducting the EMU orchestra. She is also concertmaster of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Orchestra and the Shenandoah Symphony Orchestra, and is a violinist with the Virginia Symphony and the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, N.C.

Orchestra members are primarily from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham County area and several from Augusta County and Orange, Va.

Admission to the program is free. Donations are welcomed for the EMU music department student scholarship fund.