Round Rock Symphony

Round Rock Symphony

Written by Eric Pulsifer Friday, 05 September 2008

Things are beginning to fall into place for the Round Rock Symphony as the group warms up for its first performance in October.

Like most professional orchestras, the Round Rock Symphony will be a nonprofit group. Music director Silas Huff said the symphony is still awaiting 501(c)(3) nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service, but people have already started showing interest.

“Some supporters are coming out of the woodwork, but we’re still searching for folks that want to support the organization,” Huff said. “A professional symphony orchestra, of course, is a very expensive venture because each person in the orchestra is compensated.”

Musicians will be selected after open auditions Sept. 29 through Oct. 3. Musicians are instructed to watch the website for audition location information.

Many professional musicians in Central Texas, like the ones auditioning this month, regularly travel as far as Abilene and Laredo to perform with various professional orchestras. Huff said the musicians he has spoken with are thrilled by the prospect of participating in an orchestra closer to home.

Playing in harmony

Huff is quick to address the Williamson County Symphony Orchestra, a nonprofit group providing amateur musicians a place to gain valuable performance experience.

“The Williamson County Symphony Orchestra is a wonderful organization and their mission is very important,” Huff said. “That orchestra does good work.”

Huff said he hopes the two groups can work together to increase awareness of the arts in Round Rock.

“We’re not competing with them or trying to put them out of business or anything like that,” he said. “We’re simply going to enhance what they do, and I hope that they enhance what we do.”

Season debut

The Round Rock Symphony’s first performance will be at 8 p.m. Oct. 25 at First United Methodist Church, 1104 N. Mays St. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for seniors and students. Children 12 years old and younger are admitted at no charge.

The orchestra will perform Felix Mendelssohn’s “Fingal’s Cave,” Richard Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll,” Franz Schubert’s “Italian Overture in C,” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy” with piano soloist Brett Bachus and the Round Rock Community Choir, directed by Linda Bolding.

One more performance is scheduled for the symphony’s inaugural season on April 4 at a to-be-determined venue. After the first season, Huff plans on putting on as many as six performances per season, playing outdoor concerts and offering educational programs for Round Rock ISD students.

Huff said he hopes that the symphony will enhance the way people see the city and that it will just be the beginning of an even larger cultural scene in the Round Rock of the future.

“I’d like to think that a city like Round Rock can support a professional orchestra.” Huff said. “It’s growing and becoming more sophisticated, and I think to start this movement now is a good idea.”

Musical soiree

To help raise funds and awareness, the symphony is holding a launch party and musical soiree at 7 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Forest Creek Country Club, 100 Twin Ridge Parkway. Jessica Mathaes, Pflugerville resident and concertmaster of the Austin Symphony, will make a special appearance.

Wine, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served. Tickets are partially tax-deductible and start at $50. All attendees will be acknowledged at the symphony’s first performance.

Conductor Silas Huff

After conducting orchestras around the world for the past 10 years, Silas Huff will now be the Round Rock Symphony’s music director for an initial period of five years.

Huff maintains positions as a conductor around the country. His work with the Round Rock Symphony will mark the first time that the San Antonio-native conducts a professional orchestra in his home state.

Though recently younger conductors are holding prominent roles in the world of professional orchestras, at 35 years old, Huff said he is still younger than most maestros.

“In conductor years, I’m a baby,” he said.

In college, Huff studied classical guitar at Texas State University in San Marcos. While working toward his master’s degree in music composition at the University of California at Los Angeles, Huff said he found that he excelled at conducting.

“I discovered that I had a real knack for conducting and found I was a much more talented conductor than a composer,” Huff said.

Huff divides his time between Texas, what he calls his “adopted home” in New York City and the rest of the world.

Huff has conducted orchestras across the United States and in France, Russia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. In 2009, he will debut as guest conductor with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra and the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble, and he maintains his posts as the Music Director of the Astoria Music Society and Astoria Symphony, Conductor of the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble in New York City and Conductor of the Moscow Ballet’s annual U.S. Nutcracker tour.

Round Rock Symphony, 466-6075, www.roundrocksymphony.org