Luther Symphony Orchestra to present spring concert March 16

The Luther College Symphony Orchestra will present a spring concert Sunday, March 16 at 4 p.m. in the Main Hall of the Luther College Center for Faith and Life. 

Under the direction of Daniel Baldwin, Luther professor of music, the orchestra will perform “Polovtsian Dances” by Alexander Borodin, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, second movement by Samuel Barber and “Unfinished” Symphony No. 8 in B minor by Franz Schubert.

Luther junior Erik Malmquist is the featured violin soloist for “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra.” Malmquist is a junior music major, and one of the winners of the 2006 Luther Department of Music Concerto-Aria Competition.  He is the concertmaster of the Luther College Symphony Orchestra.

The Luther Symphony Orchestra includes more than 80 student musicians representing a variety of academic majors. In addition to presenting regular concerts featuring the masterworks of orchestral literature, the Symphony Orchestra hosts more than 200 high school students at the annual Dorian Orchestra Festival.

The Symphony Orchestra tours annually throughout the United States.

Baldwin conducts both the Chamber and Symphony orchestras at Luther.  Before joining the Luther faculty, he held conducting positions at Central Washington University, the Brevard (N.C.) Music Center and with the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras.

He received his formal training in string pedagogy as a teacher in the nationally acclaimed University of Texas String Project.

A 1991 conducting fellow of the Conductor’s Institute of the University of South Carolina and former cellist with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, Baldwin is a recipient of the Central Washington University Parents Association Excellence in Teaching Award.