The Wartburg Community Symphony will open its 74th season on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m., in Neumann Auditorium.
The program will showcase Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” English composer Ethel Smyth’s swashbuckling overture to “The Wreckers” and Danish composer Launy Grøndal’s “Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra”, featuring soloist Ian Rutherford.
“We are also partnering with the newly formed Waverly Arts Center to co-sponsor an art competition,” said Rebecca Nederhiser, the symphony conductor. “Local artists were encouraged to submit their versions of the art that inspired ‘Pictures at an Exhibition.’ Just as Mussorgsky was inspired by the art of his late friend, Viktor Hartmann, we are also paying homage to great artists in our community. Alongside our contest submissions, we will also feature works by Gary Kelley, Arthur Frick, Dennis Peterka and Paula Survilla.”
Opening of the free exhibit will coincide with Nederhiser’s Oct. 17 pre-concert talk, “Beyond the Music,” which begins at 6 p.m. in the Waldemar A. Schmidt Gallery of the Wartburg Fine Arts Center
Patrons can walk from the gallery to Neumann Auditorium for the 7 p.m. concert.
Concert tickets are available at the door with cash, check or credit card or online with credit card at www.wartburg.edu/symphony. Individual adult tickets are $20, and a season ticket to all four concerts costs $72, a 10 percent discount. Youth 18 and younger and Wartburg College students are admitted free.
The concert will open with the overture to Smyth’s 1904 opera, “The Wreckers.” Set in the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall, it tells the story of coastal villagers in the late 18th century who “wrecked” passing ships by falsely leading them to shore. According to Nederhiser, Smyth’s bombastic and powerful melodies conjure images of coastal shipwrecks and nautical scenes akin to those portrayed by painters such as J.M.W. Turner and Edward Moran.
Rutherford, featured soloist for Grøndal’s trombone concerto, has performed with the Omaha Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Sioux City Symphony, South Dakota Symphony, Lincoln (Nebraska) Symphony and the Northwest Iowa Symphony Orchestra.
Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” will follow the concert intermission. Its movements are organized as a walk (Promenade) from picture to picture through an art museum. Most famously orchestrated by Ravel, the work began as a piano suite that captured the imagination of performers and composers alike. Its glorious finale, “The Great Gate of Kiev,” is the work’s most familiar piece.
The 2026-27 WCS season theme is “Illuminating Soundscapes.” Other concerts are set for 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12; 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20; and 7 p.m. Saturday, April 10. Complete details can be found at www.wartburg.edu/symphony.
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