Chattering is heard through the seats as guests wait for the curtains to open. As the grand curtains finally rise, a beautiful symphony orchestra can be seen, full and vibrant with musicians and their instruments. The conductor walks on, and with the drop of his arms the show begins.
Dr. Robert Tueller, the director of BYU-Idaho’s Symphony Orchestra, has been preparing the musicians for this concert for the last few weeks. Promising a night full of carefully curated musical pieces that are set to captivate audiences with their depth and brilliance.
“My first criteria for choosing music is music that I love, so it’s a bit of a selfish thing,” he said. “I also consider things that I think will benefit students. I try to think of things that they should be exposed to.”
Dr. Tueller’s journey began much like that of many other passionate musicians, his parents took him to piano lessons. But having grown up with two musicians as parents, his love for music naturally took over. He quickly gained interest in the cello, and after lots of schooling and many impressive achievements, he started working at BYU-Idaho back in 2001.
“My dad is a classical music collector, he has a very large collection of records and later compact discs,” he said. “I grew up listening to all of that music my entire life and so I think it just stuck.”
Dr. Tueller’s favorite part about music is the rehearsal process. They make up some of his most memorable moments working with his students. His favorite highlight is watching his students become better at what they do. He said there is nothing more gratifying to him than giving his students a particularly difficult piece of music and watching them make great progress in just a short amount of time.
“These students are really good. We’ve only been working on this concert for about four weeks, just eight rehearsals, and they’ve made a tremendous amount of progress on the music, which is at a professional level. Professional orchestras play these songs, so this is definitely difficult music,” Dr. Tueller said.
The concert will feature arrangements from different composers and themes, promising not only a display of musical talents but also being a testament to everyone’s hard work and dedication. As the very final preparations are made, Dr. Tueller hopes the audience will take away a deep appreciation for the diverse repertoire and the students’ impressive accomplishments.
“The first piece by Finzi is called ‘A Romance.’ It’s very much an English piece of string music and there’s a real strong emotionalism in the music. I think the audience is really going to enjoy that connection, emotionally, to that piece,” he said.
If you would like to watch BYU-Idaho’s Symphony Orchestra concert, the performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Barrus Concert Hall. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the box office.