Orchestra
The Lafayette-Oxford-University Symphony Orchestra is sponsored by the Department of Music and serves as one of the major university ensembles.
LOU Symphony Orchestra
The Lafayette-Oxford-University (LOU) Symphony Orchestra includes university students, community members, and highly qualified musical professionals and performs a wide variety of standard symphonic repertoire. Often the Music Department’s internationally celebrated faculty members join the LOU Symphony as soloists and take center stage with the ensemble.
The LOU Symphony performs as the pit orchestra with UM Opera Theatre, performing a vast selection of repertoire from the pit of the Ford Center. The LOU Symphony regularly collaborates with the University Choir on the Veterans Day Concert, Department-of-Music sponsored holiday concerts, and Black History Month concerts.
Orchestra participation
Students
Student membership in the University Orchestra is open to any graduate or undergraduate student at the University of Mississippi. Initial enrollment is by audition.
Community
Community membership in the University Orchestra is open to qualified amateurs who can attend rehearsals and maintain their preparation of the music. Initial community membership is by audition. Membership is open to community string players, but community membership for winds and percussion is available only when the roster cannot be filled with students.
Faculty and Professionals
Music faculty members and other highly qualified music professionals will be invited by the Music Director to participate in dress rehearsals and to assist in the preparation and performance of concerts.
Become a member of the LOU Orchestra
Regular full ensemble rehearsals are held on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 2:30 to 3:45, and string sectionals are on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:00 to 12:50 p.m.
Additional sectional rehearsals may be scheduled as may arise. Two dress rehearsals of 2.5 hours each are usually scheduled on Sunday immediately before each concert.
The University Symphony Orchestra typically gives four performances during the academic year.
Faculty members in the Department of Music regularly appear as soloists, and the winners of The UM Concerto Competition appear during the Winter Concert each March.
The orchestra supports the performance of the UM Opera Theatre during the alternate spring semesters.
Performances of the orchestra are given either at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts or in Nutt Auditorium.
Auditions for membership and for scholarships are arranged by appointment with the music director and members of the Department of Music faculty. Orchestra scholarships are available by audition to qualified string instrumentalists, regardless of major field of study.
Audition material should include selections that demonstrate the performer’s ability to best advantage, preferably in both lyrical and technical passages. Total duration should be 10 to 15 minutes. Although personal visits are encouraged, auditions may be made through recordings.
Contact the Department of Music to arrange an audition date and time, more information about recommended audition repertoire, as well as campus tours and other informative activities.
LOU Symphony’s wind and percussion auditions will take place with the band area. For more information please contact Dr. Selim Giray at sgiray@olemiss.edu.
String seating auditions will take place on the following dates:
- Wednesday, 8/28 at 12:00–12:50 p.m.
- Thursday, 8/29 at 2:30–3:45 p.m.
Welcome to the LOU Symphony Orchestra
We cordially invite you to become a member of the University Symphony, where we take great pleasure in studying and performing a diverse range of both classical and contemporary symphonic repertoire. We encourage you to partake in the enthusiasm that the University Symphony members get to experience throughout our rehearsals and it with our audiences in our electrifying performances.
Selim Giray
Associate Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral Studies
Meet the Orchestra Faculty
Selim Giray
- Associate Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral Studies