WWU Symphony Orchestra: Halka, Marks, Shatin, and Mozart

Join the WWU Symphony Orchestra for an evening spotlighting Western’s faculty and students. Opening the program are two works by WWU composers: Dr. Charles Halka’s snarky Son of Scherzo, written for the WSO—and given its premiere before an audience of 2,200 at Barcelona’s iconic Palau de la Música Catalana in June, 2023—and alumnus Colin Mark’s Disposition, winner of the 2023 WWU Composition Competition. Next, Western’s new Professor of Flute, Mehrdad Gholami, performs Judith Shatin’s Ruah (Hebrew for “breath”) for flute and chamber orchestra. Concluding the program is the ebullient first of Mozart’s final three symphonies—Nos. 39, 40, and 41—all written back-to-back during the summer of 1788.