SCHUBERT AND MORE: Ruth Ochs leads the Westminster Community Orchestra, coming to the Westminster campus Sunday, April 2.

The Westminster Community Orchestra, conducted by Ruth Ochs, will present a concert titled “Rosamunde Revisited” on Sunday, April 2 at 7 p.m. in Hillman Auditorium of the Marian Buckelew Cullen Center on the Westminster Campus of Rider University on Walnut Lane. A suggested donation of $10/person will be accepted at the door.

The concert program is built around the history of a beautiful melody — the Schubert Rosamunde theme, which Schubert originally used as part of incidental music for a play written by Helmina von Chezy. The orchestra will perform Schubert’s Zauberharfe Overture, an independent work historically linked with the play, and selections from the incidental music, including the Rosamunde theme. The concert will also include the second movement from Grieg’s Symphonic Dances, the “Intermezzo” from Goyescas by Granados, and the world premiere of “Frontier,” by Rider University senior music theory and composition major Evan Davis. Rounding out the program will be readings from texts by von Chezy, who struggled for proper recognition during her lifetime.

Now in her 18th season as conductor and music director of the Westminster Community Orchestra, Ochs has led the orchestra in performances of major orchestral and choral-orchestral works, including symphonies by Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky. Under her leadership, the orchestra continues to feature ensembles and soloists from the Westminster Conservatory and highlight works by local and under-represented composers.

Ochs is in her 21st season as the conductor of the Princeton University Sinfonia. Now in its 38th season, the Westminster Community Orchestra is made up of professional and gifted amateur musicians from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They come from all walks of life but share a
common goal: the desire to make wonderful music for themselves and their community.

For more information, call (609) 921-7104 or email conservatory@rider.edu.