By Justin Fox, Staff Writer
On Friday, Oct. 6, at 8 p.m., the Sunderman Conservatory Symphony Orchestra took the stage at the Majestic Theater to perform a program containing one of Debussy’s preludes, arias performed by a Concerto Competition Winner, a piece by a student composer, and one of the most prominent programmatic orchestral pieces, “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Professor Ryan Kozak, director of the Sunderman Conservatory orchestra for the 2026-2027 season, conducted the concert.
The program opened with Tim Laughlin’s orchestration of French composer Claude Debussy’s prelude “La Cathèdrale Engloutie” (“The Sunken Cathedral”). The was an orchestration of a work originally for piano. The piece depicted the mythical city Ys that is submerged in water, gently rising above the surface each morning and sinking back below the water after the conducing of chants and masses. Beginning softly, the music progressively gained strength as the cathedral rose from the cold ocean to the bright surface, reaching a climax as if stood briefly in the daylight. It then returned to the motifs of the opening as the cathedral receded into darkness, taking the memories of the rituals with it.
Following this, Lindy Harris ’29, soprano vocalist and one of the annual Conservatory Concerto Competition winners, took the stage to reprise the two arias she performed in the competition. Previously having performed them with just piano accompaniment, she sung this time with the full orchestra. The two arias were “Mein Herr Marquis” from Johann Strauss II’s “Die Fledermaus,” chipper like a laugh, and “Willow Song” from Douglas Moore’s “The Ballade of Baby Doe” solemn and sincere. Dr. James Day, Director of the Sunderman Conservatory of Music, congratulated Harris personally onstage and spoke on her impressive feat of winning the Concerto Competition as a vocalist. “It’s really an outstanding feat to win with a concert aria or songs with orchestral accompaniment. It’s a really different genre than the instrumental concertos, so that’s a really outstanding feat.”
The first half of the concert concluded with “Icarus” for solo violin and orchestra by student composer Riley Dunbar ’27, with solo violin played by Dr. Marjory Serrano-Coyer. Dunbar’s composition tells the story of Icarus in the classic myth, flying with wings of wax and feathers out of Crete and coming too close to the sun, which melts his wings and sends him falling into the sea. The music first depicted the glorious morning, with the sun shining and Icarus full of hope, and proceeds to represent the wings themselves as sections are pieced together and ultimately fall apart. Dunbar is both fascinated by storytelling through music and a firm believer in collaboration between composers and performers. Both of these values shined through in the premier of their composition, and they send much love to the musicians and faculty of the Conservatory who brought the composition to life. “This was the first time I’ve really heard one of their pieces in full, and it sounded amazing. I was really excited,” said Melanie Flynn ’27.
After intermission, the concert concluded with Maurice Ravel’s orchestration of Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” The suite was composed as a tribute to Mussorgsky’s late friend, the painter Viktor Hartmann. Deeply moved by a memorial exhibition of Hartmann’s work, he composed a piano suite in his memory, later arranged on a larger scale by Ravel’s genius orchestration.
The music does not simply portray Hartmann’s paintings in an arbitrary order. The movements simulate a walk through a gallery, with the paintings progressing from those of happy scenes to more silly and melancholy ones. “Promenade” movements fill the space, with the first being proud and innocent, and each subsequent one carrying the progressively more morose feelings from the previously seen or upcoming painting. After a trip to the Paris catacombs and a haunting connection to the dead, the suite concludes with a triumphant portrayal of Hartman’s “The Great Gate of Kiev,” ending a breathtaking tribute to art, memory, and friendship. “I thought it was a good example of how important live music is,” said Charlotte Lewis ’27, “because you would never get that kind of feeling from a recording.”
This concert was a special display of the talent of the Conservatory’s students as both performers and creators, and the rendition of Mussorgsky’s suite reminded the audience of the power of art to hold memories and emotions.
