University Symphony Orchestra Prepares Festive Spring Concert at UW

The University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra will bring a burst of color, motion and volume to the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts concert hall when it closes its spring season with Ottorino Respighi’s Feste Romane at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 7. The program is built for a broad public audience, and UW said the orchestra’s previous concert came within a few seats of selling out.

That matters in Albany County because the concert is not just a student performance tucked inside the academic calendar. It is one more major arts event anchored on the University of Wyoming campus, where the Buchanan Center serves as the hub for music, theater and dance. The university’s Buchanan Center Special Events program, now in its fourth season after beginning in fall 2022, has helped make the hall a regular destination for campus and community audiences alike.

Feste Romane is the sort of work that rewards the trip. Respighi wrote it as the third piece in his Roman trilogy, following Fountains of Rome in 1916 and Pines of Rome in 1924, and the score is known for its orchestral spectacle and technical demands. Its scenes move from pilgrims approaching Rome to early Christian martyrs, then to gladiators and a harvest-and-hunt festival that uses barrel organ and other theatrical effects. For an 85-member orchestra, that kind of music tests balance, color and precision while giving listeners the kind of lush, cinematic sound that fills a concert hall.

The rest of the program gives the evening more range. Jennifer Higdon’s Light, which premiered in 2008, opens a more contemporary window before the orchestra turns to five short Mahler works featuring mezzo-soprano Magdalena Wór. Wór’s résumé includes appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, adding outside professional weight to a program that still centers on UW student musicians.

The concert also reflects the steady hand behind the ensemble. Michael Griffith is in his 37th year as music director of the University of Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, a run that has given the group continuity even as the school year changes from one class of players to the next. UW says the orchestra’s concerts in Laramie draw large and appreciative audiences and remain an important part of the community’s cultural life.

Support from the Symphony Association for the University of Wyoming helps sustain that work through scholarships, tours, equipment needs, commissions and other special projects. For Albany County residents looking for one last high-energy night of live music before summer, the spring finale offers scale, variety and a strong reminder of how central UW remains to the region’s arts scene.