Tour Information

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The Concordia Orchestra

Tour Information

2023 Tour

The Concordia Orchestra’s fall tour was across the state of North Dakota, where they performed in locations such as Bismarck, Williston, and Minot. The Orchestra also performed at the Historic Holmes Theatre in Detroit Lakes, MN, as part of the theater’s Performing Arts Series.  

A highlight of the Orchestra’s annual tour is the daily student interactions at the local highschools visited throughout the week. Orchestra members spend hours each day talking, instructing, and performing with music students of all ages and abilities. 

The 2023 fall tour featured the world premiere of “To Face the Wind”, an original composition from Concordia’s own Dr. Steve Makela. Dr. Anne Jennifer Nash, the piece’s featured vocal soloist, joined the Orchestra throughout the concert series. Also featured within the performance was viola professor,  Prof. Thomas Bandar, who performed Rebecca Clarke’s Viola Sonata, orchestrated by Ruth Lomon. Prof. Bandar worked throughout the week with the Orchestra during daily student interactions, applying his insight and expertise for string performance.

Additionally, the tour program included Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade, Maria Genfell’s Roar!, and Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations.

One of his most famous compositions, Elgar’s paramount Enigma Variations consists of fourteen variations modeled off of an original theme. Each variation is written for a unique person in the composer’s life, and reflects his emotional perception of them through different forms of musical expression. Variation No. 9, titled “Nimrod”, is arguably Elgar’s most famous variation from this work. Nimrod’s hauntingly familiar melody encompasses the full range of human emotion, and includes features from each section of the Orchestra. 

2022 International Tour to Spain

The Concordia Orchestra and The Concordia Band traveled together to Spain in May 2022. They performed concerts in beautiful venues, experienced local Spanish culture, and made connections with local Spanish musicians and Ensembles.

Students explored the regions of Castile and León, beginning the tour in Burgos, a city marked by its intact medieval architecture including its stunning French Gothic Cathedral. They also journeyed to Oviedo, A Coruña, Santiago de Compostela, and concluded with a tour in Madrid!

2018 International Tour to Greece

In May 2018, The Concordia Orchestra toured Greece, with concert performances in the Catholic Church of Immaculate Conception in Thessaloniki; the Kyriakopoulio Cultural Center in Itea; the Fougaro Cultural Center of Nafplio; and the Roumeli Cultural Center in Athens. Repertoire included Overture to Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II; Haydn's "London" Symphony; An Outdoor Overture by Aaron Copland; Legacy by recent Concordia alumnus Paul Cravens; Kabelevsky's Overture to Colas Breugnon; Symphony No. 2 in B minor by Alexandar Borodin; and Gospel Fever! by Concordia professor and saxophone soloist Russell Peterson.