New orchestra conductor seeks higher profile, more fans

A huge potential fan base for the University Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble lurks within the student body, according to Ricardo Averbach, the orchestra's conductor. Fifteen percent of University students declare proficiency in a musical instrument on their applications, he said. "We should have one of the best [college] orchestras because we have so many students," Averbach said. "I estimate 1,200 -- minimum -- instrumentalists." The Brazilian-born Averbach is only in his first year of conducting the orchestra, but he has already decided to boost the orchestra's traditionally low profile. The orchestra has unveiled several new programs and a revamped performance schedule this year in an attempt to attract more students and win more support from the University administration. Averbach has organized a series of musical exchanges with Yale University. The two university orchestras will play a joint spring concert at both Yale and Penn. Each orchestra will play only original compositions by music professors from each school, followed by a joint world-premiere of a piece that Penn Music Professor Jay Reise composed. Professional recording engineers will tape the performances for future compact disc sales. Despite the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra strike, its professional members continue to lead the University Orchestra through sectional rehearsals for different instruments, in a program Averbach just started. And in another new initiative, Averbach will hold the first-ever Valentine's Day concert for the University community -- which may prove to raise the orchestra's visibility significantly. Averbach also would like the University administration to help the group. He drew parallels between the orchestra's lack of administrative support and causes behind the Philadelphia Orchestra's strike. One reason the group has tried to reinvent its image is so the "bureaucracy will recognize that music is an essential part of University life," according to Wharton freshman Sze Shing Hui, who coordinates business affairs for the orchestra. The musicians -- who rehearse between four and five hours a week in addition to individual daily practice -- receive no academic credit for their work. Schools like Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Duke and Stanford universities all award course credit to their student orchestras. Like many performing arts groups on campus, orchestra members complain of inadequate performance and rehearsal facilities. The Annenberg Center's Zellerbach Theatre, the group's usual concert hall, should be used to "rehearse only," Hui said. And lacking rehearsal and storage rooms, members often practice in their dorms and keep their instruments there. Despite these setbacks, the University Orchestra performs with tremendous enthusiasm. The group will give its opening concert of the year at 8 p.m. on November 16, in the Cathedral Church of the Savior at 38th and Walnut streets.