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The Auburn Community Orchestra Kicks Off 2009 Season
with Live Performance at JCSM

AUBURN, Ala.— The Auburn Community Orchestra will begin their 2009 season with a fall program on Sunday, September 28, 2008 from 3 to 5 pm at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. Admission is free, however seating is limited and reservations are required. Please call Margaret Gluhman at the Jan Dempsey Center for tickets at (334)501-2963.

This program will celebrate the lives of composers George Frideric Handel, Franz Joseph Haydn and Felix Mendelssohn. 2009 is a year in which several important anniversaries for these three composers converge. The 200th birthday of Mendelssohn (1809-1847), the 200th anniversary of the passing of Haydn (1732-1809), as well as the 250th anniversary of the passing of Handel (1685-1759) all fall in the upcoming year.

The Auburn Community Orchestra evolved from the Auburn University Orchestra, which ceased effective operations in 1997 due to university fiscal problems. Many university orchestra members felt the Auburn-Opelika community’s cultural atmosphere would be diminished without regular orchestral concerts, and therefore decided to form a Community Orchestra to ensure the survival of quality orchestral music in the community. The Auburn Community Orchestra is dedicated to its mission to present orchestral concerts to the citizens of Auburn, Opelika, and East Alabama. It should not be necessary for local residents to travel to Montgomery or Columbus to hear quality orchestral music. The orchestra members also wish to promote awareness of orchestral music outside of the Auburn/Opelika area by visiting other communities in the region, either as a group or individually. (From http://www.auburnalabama.org/arts/auburncommunityorchestra.asp)

Open since 2003, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University is Alabama’s only university art museum.  Serving as the gateway into Auburn University, the museum is home to many pieces of culturally significant art. The collection includes 100 Audubon prints, a rare group of more than 40 Tibetan bronzes dating back from the 14th century and works by important American artists, such as Arthur Dove, Georgia O’Keeffe and Lyonel Feininger. The museum rotunda hangs a three-tiered, hand-blown glass chandelier created especially for the museum by internationally-renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly.  The beauty continues onto the grounds of the museum with fifteen acres of gardens, walking paths and water features, complete with an eleven and a half foot tall brass sculpture, Spinoff, created by Auburn alumna Jean Woodham.

CONTACT: Colleen Bourdeau, Marketing and Events Manager
334.844.7075
cbourdeau@auburn.edu