Miami University Symphony Orchestra

Miami University Symphony Orchestra performs Symphony No. 4: To celebrate the Daniel Pearl 120th anniversary concert. "This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before."

Leonard Bernstein Homecoming weekend launches a special event: the 120th anniversary concert of the Miami University Symphony Orchestra, when our ensemble will join forces with the Denison University Orchestra to perform the poignant Symphony No. 4 by Brahms, considered one of the most beautiful and expertly crafted works of the symphonic literature.

The performance is free and open to the public, taking place at 7:30PM in Hall Auditorium.

Our homecoming performance is dedicated to the Daniel Pearl World Music Days – a global network of concerts that celebrates the legacy of Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter, who was kidnapped and murdered by extremists in Pakistan in 2002. His death sparked a global conversation about the need for building bridges between cultures. Pearl, a gifted musician and writer, is seen as a symbol of hope. His family and friends created the Daniel Pearl Foundation to inspire unity, promote harmony through humanity, and encourage empathy.

The dedication of this concert coincides with the scalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, when on Saturday, October 7 the terrorist organization Hamas invaded Israel, killing numerous people, and taking dozens of hostages, including women, children and older adults — mostly Israelis but also some people of other nationalities. In southern Israel, the Supernova music festival was taking place when the militant terrorists stormed the festival and opened fire against the civilians, killing a large number of people.

The performance at Miami University will be conducted by Dr. Ricardo Averbach and will be repeated the following day at Denison University under the conducting of Dr. Philip Rudd.