Collaboration and contrast shape two orchestral performances at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music Feb. 6-7 as student achievement and faculty leadership come together on consecutive nights.
The weekend begins Feb. 6 with “Worlds Apart, Sounds United,” a concert that marks the first time the Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Players will perform together on the same program at Brockman Hall for Opera’s Morrison Theater stage.
The concert features junior bassoonist Jackson Bernal, a 2025 Shepherd School Concerto Competition winner studying with Benjamin Kamins, in Hummel’s Grand Concerto in F Major.
“It’s a very interesting piece because it has so many technical demands,” Bernal said. “Bassoonists are very limited with what our hands can do, but Hummel really pushes that capacity. He writes a lot of really technically demanding lines, and I wanted something very flashy that would speak well when I performed on stage.”
David Chan, former concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and new Shepherd School faculty member, plays a pivotal role, making his conducting debut at the school with Hummel and coaching the Chamber Orchestra for its conductorless performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40.
“What excites me most about this program is that the students have the opportunity to perform one of the cornerstones of the orchestral repertoire in a conductorless setting,” Chan said. “Orchestra at its best is really a form of large chamber music, and this format will give them the chance to sharpen those chamber skills to the utmost.”
The musically diverse evening also features the Shepherd School Chamber Players in William Grant Still’s “Ennanga” for string quartet, harp and piano, and Jasmine Barnes’ “The Boroughs” for double brass quintet.
The Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra continues the weekend Feb. 7 with “Sorrow & Joy,” a program that juxtaposes contemporary reflection with iconic symphonic works.
At the center of the Miguel Harth Bedoya-conducted program are George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique,” the composer’s final symphony. They’re joined by “The Blue Hour,” a Cooper Prize-winning composition by Shepherd School alumna Nicky Sohn ’25. The work reflects on the planet’s precarious state and invites contemplation and action.
“Worlds Apart, Sounds United” will be held at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6 in Morrison Theater at Brockman Hall for Opera. Tickets are free but required. “Sorrow & Joy” follows at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7 in Stude Concert Hall at Alice Pratt Brown Hall. Reserved seating tickets are required and start at $5. Both concerts will be livestreamed for free on music.rice.edu.