If nothing else, the Starkville-Mississippi State University Symphony Association sure knows how to design flyers for a fundraising gala. Posters around campus bearing an image of composer Johann Sebastian Bach wearing shades, backed by the event title, “A Bach to the Future Affair” (styled after the event’s namesake film’s logo) have cropped up.
The Symphony Association contains the Symphony Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, with the former conducted and directed by Michael Brown, professor and head of the MSU Department of Music. Brown said the Feb. 16 event will be a social evening, informal and entertaining.
“The State Messengers, a dance band, will be there; someone comes in and does some sort of humorous act. It’s not a concert at all,” he said. “Not formal at all, but a good time had by all.”
Clifton Taylor, associate professor and associate director of bands will be leading The State Messengers in the absence of Brown at the event.
He said the band, consisting of a rhythm section and a couple of horns, will be playing jazz standards, in swing, Latin, and ballad styles.
Tickets to the gala, held at the Starkville Country Club, are $60; the proceeds will help keep alive the reputation Brown said the orchestra holds of stemming successfully from a very small community.
“(Starkville) is supposedly the smallest town in the country to have a professional symphony orchestra. I don’t know if it’s still true, but one of the founding members got mentioned on the Johnny Carson show as the leader of the orchestra in the smallest town in the United States,” he said.
The support the orchestra receives allows for events like the Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming full performance March 2 at First Baptist Church Starkville. Brown said “The Best of Beethoven III,” while free to the public, takes work and donation behind the scenes.
“It’s very unusual to have a professional orchestra that gives free shows; the shows are free to the public but cost us a lot of money to put on,” he said.
With Lee Hall currently under renovation, Brown said the concerts have relocated from Lee Auditorium to First Baptist Church.
“The audience ranges from 900 to 1,000 people. There is not another place on campus that would seat 1,000 people, so we used to fill up Lee Hall and now we fill up First Baptist,” he said.
Brown said the Symphony Orchestra is composed of mostly professional players from various neighboring states, which keeps practices confined to the weekend before a performance.
“If we have a Saturday concert, we’ll have a Friday afternoon rehearsal, a Friday night rehearsal and a Saturday morning rehearsal,” he said.
Doug Browning, composer and director of the Symphony Chorus, said the workings of the chorus are different from those of a professional orchestra.
“Choral music is the ultimate amateur sport. There are professional choruses in the world, but the vast majority are amateur,” he said. “The majority of people are in the public sector. People do it because they just absolutely love it, and they find a way to do it.”
As well as practicing more often due to the nature of amateur groups, Browning said there are opportunities for MSU students to get involved with the Symphony Chorus.
“There are opportunities for what we would call a scholarship or internship within the chorus,” he said. “We really are interested in MSU students interested in using their voice.”
Information about student opportunities in the Symphony Chorus can be found through Browning at 601-826-9952. Information about the Starkville-MSU Symphony Association can be found at starkvillemsusymphony.org.