Penn students may now get the chance to enjoy the sounds of the Philadelphia Orchestra, all from the comfort of their own college house.
Yesterday, Ricardo Morales and Jie Chen of the Philadelphia Orchestra treated an enthralled audience to a musical evening in Harnwell College House's Rooftop Lounge.
Yesterday's performance was the first in a series organized by the College House Residential Program and the Music Department.
The Music From the Houses concert series will feature performances by local musicians Maureen Francis Scanlon, Michele Kelly and Karen Meier.
It will continue through November, culminating in a performance by Penn Flutes in Concert on Dec. 7.
Cristle Judd, associate chairwoman for performance in the Music Department, hopes that the concert series will help foster an appreciation of music among students.
"The goal of the program is to provide Penn students a chance to experience, firsthand, the great music Philadelphia has to offer," she said.
The next performance will be on the Oct. 21, featuring Allyn Miner playing the sitar.
Yesterday's program consisted of three pieces, with Morales on the clarinet and Chen on the piano.
The first was Andre Messager's "Solo de Concours," which was followed by Robert Muczynski's "Time Pieces."
The last piece, Johannes Brahms' "Sonata No. 1" was Morales' favorite.
"It was the first recording my brother bought me," he said.
Morales, who joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as principal clarinet in 2003, has appeared with the Chicago and Cincinnati symphonies.
Jie Chen, who joined the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2001, started playing the piano at the age of four.
Today's program was also a first for the Philadelphia Orchestra, which has started its "Raising the Invisible Curtain" initiative at Penn.
This initiative will allow members of the orchestra to perform at colleges across Philadelphia.
"This is the flagship concert. Penn is the first university we will be working with," said Sarah Johnson, the orchestra's director of education and community partnerships.
Engineering freshman Sayan Dobronsky vowed not to miss any of the upcoming performances.
"It was simply an excellent evening of music," he said.
Wharton senior Arlene Wong was also impressed.
"The pianist and the clarinet were perfectly matched," she said.
