Written by Abbey Williams // Photo by Briley Kemper
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra performed Tuesday in succession of the total solar eclipse. The performance, which took place in the Benson Auditorium at 7:30 p.m., was titled “Music of the Spheres” and featured several solar system-themed pieces. Students were offered tickets at a discounted price.
Jay Walls, chair of the Music Department, said the performance was a collaboration with the University Centennial committee as well as the committee that organized events related to the eclipse.
“We decided to do a concert that will sort of wrap up all of these events in a really big way,” Walls said. “… One of the pieces is going to be collaborating with our Grand Chorus, so it’ll be members of our two large courses here at the University plus the Harding Academy chorus.”
Walls said the Arkansas Symphony traveled to Searcy with the largest orchestra they have ever brought outside of Little Rock. With those numbers as well as the University and Academy chorus joining, Walls said around 130 singers and a 90-piece orchestra were on stage.
“We hope that the Harding community will realize that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see all of these musicians performing together,” Walls said. “It’s even been about seven years or so since the Arkansas Symphony has been in Searcy.”
Choral Activities Director Kyle Pullen said students could experience new and unique music at the performance.
“The symphony will open your ears to music you’ve probably never heard before,” Pullen said. “These are not really popular pieces. I think it’s just good to hear great music performed by great ensembles.”
Pullen said anyone can enjoy the orchestra.
“I think it’s a kind of music that appeals to people of all walks of life and not just about the music, but about the content, the subject matter of the music,” Pullen said. “You could be interested in astronomy and like this music because of that. You can be interested in all types of things and enjoy this. It brings together people from different walks of life so the community is brought together through music and then it’s not just Harding performing.”
Junior Kylie James said the orchestra is “the biggest and most prestigious orchestra” in Arkansas, and it performed songs such as The Planets, Galileo’s Eyeglass and more.
“There will be some incredible music and this will be a concert that people will not want to miss,” James said. “I have been a part of ensembles for 10 plus years, and I have never been a part of a group of this skill level before.”
James said she encouraged her fellow students to attend the event because it is a way to bring the University and Searcy communities together.
“Music connects people through emotion and the communal experience of belonging. At concerts, we are all viewers,” James said. “The performers on stage are playing to interact with the audience in hopes to draw us into the art they have created. ”
