After eight months of weekly practice, the Wartburg Chamber Orchestra is ready for its inaugural concert.

The 25-member group will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, in the Wartburg Chapel in Waverly. Admission is free.

Dr. Daniel Kaplunas, music director and conductor of the Wartburg Community Symphony, developed this new music ensemble to create broader student interest and participation in Wartburg’s orchestra program. Weekly rehearsals began in September.

“Our goal is to perform a wide variety of music and to highlight student soloists, composers and conductors,” Kaplunas said.

The April 3 program will feature “Upward Journey” composed by Chelsea Reisner ’13 from Appleton, Wisconsin. Reisner is principal flutist with the Wartburg Community Symphony.

Reinser began composing in high school and now studies composition with Dr. Geoffrey Wilson, Wartburg lecturer in music.

Kaplunas said, “It is incredibly exciting to be able to present a new work by one of our students at our first concert.”

The premiere performance will feature Dr. Eric Wachmann of the Wartburg music faculty on the shakuhachi, a Japanese wind instrument.

The program also includes “Concerto Madrigalesco” by Vivaldi, “Three Slavonic Dances” by Dvorak, “Elegy” by Tchaikovsky, and a string symphony by Mendelssohn.

A total of 14 college students are involved in the Chamber Orchestra, along with faculty member Wilson as keyboardist. Other members of the group are Waverly-Shell Rock students Ethan Bixby, Austin Brase, and Sabah Munir and local residents Hunter Capoccioni, Melissa Haugo, Esther Heise, Christine Kaplunas, Sally Malcolm, Harrison Sheckler, and William Wagner.

Wartburg students in the orchestra are Kyle Barton of Davenport, Delia Bingea of Stillwater, Minn., Jenna Christensen of Waterloo, Katelyn Ewing of Le Mars, Kayla Fricke of Cedar Rapids, Katie Lane of Waterloo, Joseph Lorenzen of West Des Moines, Mackenzie Moore of La Crosse, Wis., Megumi Otaki of Tokyo, Japan, Chelsea Reisner of Appleton, Wis., Alycia Sterenberg of Boone, Dylan Thiede of Owatonna, Minn., Brianna Tieskotter of Charles City, and Noelle Tripolino of Cedar Falls.

The Wartburg Community Symphony Association and Wartburg College provide support for the Chamber Orchestra.