The Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra (SCSO) is delighted to announce that it is planning to undertake its next international tour to Argentina from Monday, May 22, through Friday, June 2, 2023, under the leadership of Conductor, Director of Orchestral Studies and Professor of Conducting Jan Wagner, Diploma and Korrepetitions Praxis, Academy of Music in Vienna (Austria). Tour participants will perform in Bariloche, Córdoba, Rosario, Buenos Aires, Bahía Blanca and San Luis. Additional outreach opportunities, cultural visits and more are also in the works.
“The students and I are excited to be able to resume our plans to travel internationally after an almost four-year hiatus due to the pandemic,” said Wagner. “We are honored and delighted that the SCSO has been reinvited by Argentina’s premier hall in Buenos Aires, the Centro Cultural Kirchner, as well as the Festival Internacional de Musica Bariloche and three other thriving cultural communities in the country such as Bahia Blanca, Cordoba and Rosario. I consider it a privilege for our students to have had the opportunity to perform to nearly sold-out venues in all the cities we’ve been able to visit in Spain and Argentina in the past. We are very excited to return to Argentina this year.”
The orchestra will tour with Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 5, which it will perform as part of the Conservatory Performs 2022/23 season at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 1, in Armstrong Concert Hall on the main campus of Shenandoah University.
Coordinator of Strings and Professor of Bass Donovan Stokes, D.M.; Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Professor of Dance Ting-Yu Chen ’19, Ed.D., and Assistant Professor of Trumpet Mary Elizabeth Bowden, M.A., will also join the orchestra on tour. Bowden will perform Clarice Assad’s “Bohemian Queen” for solo trumpet and strings on tour. The SCSO forms part of a consortium of orchestras in the United States who have commissioned the work written for Bowden.
The Symphony Orchestra has previously toured in Argentina (2017) and Spain (2014). In its last tour to Argentina, the ensemble performed in Córdoba, Paraná, Rosario and Buenos Aires, and in Spain ensemble members performed in Zaragoza, Castellón, Murcia and Granada.
SUPPORT THE TOUR
Although SCSO members commit to cover a large portion of the expenses to fund this project, additional financial support is needed to offset the extraordinary costs involved in international travel. Visit advancement.su.edu/argentinatour2023 to donate today.
Contact Shenandoah Conservatory Director of Development Melanie L. Mathewes at mmathewe@su.edu to explore additional ways to support the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming tour.
Thank you for supporting the members of the SCSO and their 2023 Argentina Tour!
ABOUT THE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra is the largest instrumental ensemble at Shenandoah Conservatory dedicated to the performance of both standard and contemporary repertoire. The ensemble typically presents five to six different programs each season, including a full opera production and a program featuring winners of the annual Student Soloists Competition. There are currently 80 regular members in the SCSO.
