The Chamber Orchestra Kremlin will be performing in the Administration Auditorium on Feb. 23, 2016 at 7 p.m. for a charge of $3.
This performance is one of the many in Harding’s ongoing concert series. According to the Kremlin’s website, the orchestra is made up of incredibly talented musicians from all over Russia, most of which are 30 years or younger, all directed by Misha Rachlevsky.
“When we talk about musicians of professional standards — instrumentalists, singers or conductors — the sound they produce is the sound they have inside of their heads,” Rachlevsky said, according to the tour’s website. “That is first and foremost. Then, instrumentalists and singers practice to match what they hear inside with what they physically produce, and conductors select the appropriate musicians, work with them in rehearsals, and inspire at concerts.”
Dr. Cliff Ganus said he receives inquiries on a daily basis for different performers to come to campus for the annual concert series, but something about the Kremlin Orchestra made it stand out from the rest.
“I thought some of our students would enjoy hearing them,” Ganus said. “I try to pick groups that if our students come to, they’ll enjoy. Not every group can have that quality, but I think the Chamber Orchestra does.”
Dr. Ganus said he recognizes that the culture of the students has shifted from the concert series that was put on when he was a student at Harding. According to him, back in the ’60s, the university could bring in an unknown harmonica player, and the Administration Auditorium would be packed with roughly 900 students. However, Ganus said that with technology infiltrating our day to day lives, and shifting the focus of young people away from tradition and towards whatever is the new style, attendance for such concerts has dropped. There are usually only about 200 people or less that come to most of the concert series in the more recent years, according to Ganus.
“I wish people cared more about that which is noble rather than what is glitzy,” Ganus said.
Sophomore Jessica White, a cellist for the Harding University Symphony, said she values the beauty of classical orchestral music and the patience and dedication it takes to master such musicality.
“I love the tone of the cello,” White said. “Since I was little I loved listening to it, and I wanted to be able to make those sounds. I’m a very patient person. It takes a really long time and a lot of dedicated practice to be able to play well.”
