Symphony Orchestra Concert

"Music of the Old and New World"

The Andrews University Symphony Orchestra and conductor Claudio Gonzalez present “Music of the Old and New World” with guest cellist and violinist of Jared and Ruth Marie Ballance on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. at the Howard Performing Arts Center.

The Symphony Orchestra will be playing Vivaldi's "Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra in B-flat Major," as well as "Danzon No. 2" by the Mexican composer Arturo Marquez and Dvorak "Symphony No. 9 New World Symphony."

Tickets for the concert are available at the door and in advance by calling the box office at 888.467.6442. They are $5 for general admission tickets; $3 for students and senior citizens.

Jared and Ruth Marie Ballance are both faculty at Hochstein School of Music and Dance. Married in 2006, the couple met while students at the Cleveland Institute of Music. They now reside in Rochester, New York. When they are not teaching, they perform as the Ballance Duo as well as the Brandywine Trio with pianist Doleen Hood. Jared holds a doctorate in cello performance and literature as well as a Master’s degree in music theory pedagogy and the Juilliard School’s Dalcroze teaching certificate. Ruth Marie is a recipient of the Cleveland Institute of Music Jerome Gross Prize in Violin in 2001. She is a highly trained violinist and has done Suzuki teacher training with Ronda Cole, Edmund Sprunger, Alice Joy Lewis, Patricia D’Ercole, and Christie Felsing, as well has being published in the American Suzuki Journal. The Ballance Duo will be performing in a recital program sponsored by the Andrews University Department of Music Sunday afternoon, November 22 at 4:00 P.M.

Dr. Claudio González began his music studies in his native Venezuela. Between 1978 and 1981, he continued violin studies at the Royal College of Music in London, receiving a degree in violin performance. In 1992, under the auspices of the Fulbright Foundation of the government of the United States and the Ayachucho Foundation of Venezuela, he studied violin and orchestral conducting at Michigan State University, where he received a Master degree in Violin Performance in 1994 and a doctoral degree in Orchestral Conducting in 2003. In 2004,he accepted the position as music faculty and director of orchestral studies at Andrews University. In 2009 he received the “University Award of Excellence” by the Adventist University of the Philippines for his leadership and direction of the International Adventist Youth Music Festival celebrated during the Andrews University Orchestra Tour in May 2009.