Bozeman Magazine

The Montana State University Symphony Orchestra will perform a spring concert livestreamed from Reynolds Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 26. Tobin Stewart, professor of music in the MSU School of Music in the College of Arts and Architecture, said that the concert will be available online at https://youtu.be/Cz6nPrZi9-Y. “We still don’t have audiences, but we have a great four-camera livestream system up and running,” Stewart said.

“This is one of the good things that came from COVID. We didn’t have that capability until this year.” The concert will feature a theme of “Ideal vs. Reality.” Stewart said the theme was inspired by a response to events of the past year. “I have been saddened by the division and the polarization, along with acts of hatred and aggression, and it made me reflect on how we can respond as an orchestra,” Stewart said. “It is our hope with this concert to do what art does well: provide a space and a medium to reflect and respond.” The concert will feature music, poetry and visual art from artist Rachel Kurle, a recent graduate from the School of Art, who will create a visual response to the music and poetry of the concert as the symphony performs. Stewart said one of the four cameras will be dedicated just to watching Kurle work. The concert will include pieces by African American composer Jessie Montgomery; a piece by Vincent Persichetti based on a T.S. Eliot poem and featuring a trumpet solo by professor Sarah Stoneback; a work by Eric Whitacre based on a poem by Octavio Paz; and a piece written by Native American composer Jerod Tate.