The Wartburg Community Symphony will open its 70th season Saturday, Oct. 15, in Neumann Auditorium, with a concert featuring several college alumni and guest soloists.

The 8 p.m. concert, “New Dawn,” will feature music from Ludwig van Beethoven and Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Wartburg alumni will join the symphony for Felix Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides Overture.”

“The concert theme symbolizes our vision for a rejuvenating new decade,” said Rebecca Nederhiser, Wartburg Community Symphony conductor. “All three works highlight this journey into the future with images of wonder, virtuosity and triumph.”

A preconcert talk will begin at 7 p.m. in the auditorium with pianist Garret Ross, cellist Ruth Marshall and violinist Emily Cole, who will join the symphony for Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto.”

Ross is the founder and artistic director of the Apollo Music Festival. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, as part of the Dame Myra Memorial Concert Series in Chicago and at the Roerich Museum in New York City.

Marshall is the cellist for the Mill City String Quartet, which performs as Class Notes Artists through Minnesota Public Radio. She also has partnered with Ross to co-found Florestan Chamber Music. She is an active instructor, teaching students of all ages in her home studio and at Winona State University, Hamline University and the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Cole has been a member of the Oregon Symphony since 2011 and has performed with several Portland-area ensembles. She previously served on the faculty at Lewis & Clark College and has coached young chamber musicians with Portland Summer Ensembles and Seattle’s Music Northwest.

Tickets are $17 for adults and free for youth ages 18 and younger and Wartburg College students. Wartburg Community Symphony Association memberships, ranging upward from $50, provide complimentary tickets to all four concerts of the season. Tickets and memberships will be available in the Neumann Auditorium lobby before the first concert. For more information and to purchase tickets online, visit the WCS website at www.wartburg.edu/symphony.