OCU Symphony performs final concert of their season -

On Thursday April 14, 2022, the Oklahoma City University Symphony Orchestra wrapped up their season with their final concert. They were directed by Jeffery Grogan and guest conductor Maestra Kalena Bovell.

The first piece on the program was “Tragic Overture, Op. 81” by Johannes Brahms, a leading composer in the romantic period, and was conducted by guest conductor Kalena Bovell. Kalena Bovell is a maestra, speaker, and poet who works as Assistant Conductor to the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Memphis Youth Symphony Orchestra, and published a book titled, “Dear Soul…” in 2009.

The second piece in the program was Amanda Harberg’s, “Concerto for Viola and Orchestra.” This included a solo by Dr. Betty Yuan, the current Viola Instructor at OCU.

The concert ended with Dmitri Shostakovich’s, “Symphony No. 5 in D minor.” Shostakovich was a Russian composer who faced pressure from Stalin for much of his career.

Jeffery Grogan, the conductor of the symphony said about the choices of music, “We chose the Brahms Tragic Overture when I contacted conductor Kalena Bovell about guest conducting on this concert.” He said about Bovell, “Kalena is taking the conducting world by storm having had her Proms debut in London last summer.”

“The Oklahoma Flute Society invited a composer friend of mine to feature this past March, Amanda Harberg. Knowing she was coming to town, I wanted to program one of her pieces and feature our fabulous viola professor, Dr. Betty Yuan,” Grogan said.

“Possibly one of the most iconic pieces for orchestra, “Shostakovich Symphony No. 5,” resonates with so much of what’s going on in our students’ lives and in the world,” Grogan said.

Grogan also said, “The OCU Symphony is made up primarily of music majors of the Wanda L. Bass School of Music,” and that school it is made up of, “piccolo, flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets, horns, trombones, tuba, harp, piano, celeste, violins, violas, celli and basses plus lots of percussion!”

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL

Violin I: Andrés Caveda, Giang Vo, Jennifer Boyes, Kaitlyn Heffernan, Ciana Higgs, Lauren Rogers, McKenzie Lofgren, Sarah Stout, Ryan Kyker, and Aaron Buoshong

Violin II: Hannah Dixon, Luke Gilmore, Cecelia Mastripolito, Amaury McCarver, Shaelen Uthe, Zoe Bosin, Miranda Kann, Elaine Bastos, and Jose Batty

Viola: Sophia Scholch, Joseph Messick, Alaina Farney, Patrick Acosta, Jacob McCoy, Abigail Kevil, and Hannah Lusby

Cello: Elmer Carter III*, Christophe Delgado-Nicole, Douglas Perry, Kiegan Ryan, Benjamin Rosfeld, Ella Brown, Alicja Marzec, and Kya Millrions

Bass: Landon Honolka, Robert Gonzalez, Jackson Burnette, Jessica Cubedo, McKay Clark, Nicholas Quinnié, Darlen Barton, Ben Askren, and Sarin Sagar

Harp: Madison Taylor and Bailey Stephenson

Flute: Katie Crim, Allison Demand, Isabela Stefanyshyn, Oboe Mary, Grace Schayot, Colton Sprenkle, and Clay Steiner

Clarinet: Christopher Maxwell, Mark Alvarez, Julia Kahmann, Luis Sanchez, and Elham Younesi

Bassoon: Phillip Knisley, Lince Ruiz, and Wesley Sloan

Contrabassoon: Wesley Sloan

Horn: Joshua Wheeler, Jose Diaz, Andrew Crawford, Alec Hopkins, and Miguel Zacharias

Trumpet: Connor Tipton, Bruno Zuniga-Hernandez, and Gabe Carter

Trombone: Trey Cole, Paul Nguyen, and JunXing Song