Republic file photo Columbus Symphony Music Director Josh Aerie leads the orchestra at a rehearsal.
Youth musicians will perform alongside seasoned instrumentalists at 3:30 p.m. Sunday when the mostly volunteer Columbus Symphony Orchestra presents its concert “Music Alive” at The Commons, 300 Washington St. downtown.
The younger performers are members of violinist Laura Andrews’ group known as Andrews Strings Studio. The orchestra invites the students to perform with them for a piece at one concert each year.
The program includes the first movement of Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4. Josh Aerie, the symphony’s music director, sees that work and the concert as a whole as a great outlet for experience for the younger musicians.
“It certainly is challenging,” Aerie said, calling the piece “a rollicking good time.” “The Mendelssohn symphonies in and of themselves are all challenging. And in this one, there are a lot of good string parts to dig into.
“These students are talented and so enthusiastic. And I just love having them as part of our ensemble.
” … I hope they feel invigorated by the experience.”
Also on the program is Symphony No. 1 by Vasily Kalinnikov, and a work, “Adoration” by Florence Price. This performance marks the symphony’s first in-person concert since its December date. A small symphony ensemble presented a streaming recital March 27 on its Facebook page.
In the meantime, the orchestra, like every other arts organization, still is working to re-engage its audience to levels before the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
“We certainly are not yet back to the numbers of where we were (pre-pandemic), and that was noticeable with our holiday concert at The Commons that usually is standing room only,” Aerie said. “It wasn’t quite that big in December, but it definitely was still a relatively healthy-sized crowd.”
