Students can hear an entire symphony performed in 10 minutes and get the opportunity to help children in the community.
The Muncie Symphony Orchestra will be performing its show titled Poetic Nostalgia at 3 p.m. Sunday at John R. Emens Auditorium.
"This season is more eclectic than years past," said Bohuslav Rattay, artistic director for the MSO.
Rattay is in his fifth season as the artistic director since coming to Ball State in 2006.
During intermission of the show, audience members will have the opportunity to help the Muncie community. There will be stations where audience members can build a backpack for Second Harvest Food Bank. Participants will fill the bags with nonperishable food items. The bags will go to local children to provide them with meals.
"It is really hard to imagine that there are kids in our country who don't have food for the weekend. ... So instead of serving refreshments, we are refreshing some other people," said Elissa McDonald, executive director of the MSO.
The food backpacks are part of the national Orchestras Feeding America program and Hunger Action Month. This is the first time MSO has put on this program.
Rattay's repertoire for the performance will cater to consistent symphony-goers and students by including classics and newer selections. While symphony buffs are the core of MSO's audience, it tries to target students in hopes of expanding their musical tastes.
One of the unique features of MSO's upcoming performance is the opening piece, Sebastian Currier's "Microsymph." The piece introduces the sounds of an entire symphony to the audience in 10 minutes. This is part of Rattay's plan to include a modern American composer in every show and emphasize the work of living composers.
The second piece will be Benjamin Britten's "Serenade for Tenor, Horns, and Strings." This will feature two new faculty members: vocal professor Joseph Levitt and horn professor Gene Berger.
After intermission, the performance will conclude with Sergei Rachmaninoff's final composition, "Symphonic Dances." This piece features the entire orchestra and is a particular favorite for Rattay.
"It's fun for the whole orchestra because it's a show-offy piece. It's very powerful," Rattay said.
Despite such a diverse repertoire, the orchestra does not begin practice for the show until three days before the performance. These practices are usually two-and-a-half hours long.
Rattay said he finds the process stressful at times. After playing through the pieces, "we hit the spots that didn't work out and try to fix them." However, Rattay believes in his performers and their commitment to a successful show.
"They are all professionals, so they know what they're doing," he said.
MSO hopes to encourage education and entertainment for music professionals, the community and Ball State students through various activities and performances such as Sunday's show. The orchestra was founded in 1949 by Robert Hargreaves. MSO recruits many of its members from School of Music faculty and students as well as community members.
The average attendance for an MSO show is about 850 people. Student tickets for Sunday's concert are free until Friday. After Friday, tickets cost $5.
On Friday, Rattay likes to pick up around 100 student tickets and put them up outside his office door. He said he hopes this will catch some students' attention and encourage them to come to the show.
Including Sunday's show, the orchestra will perform eight more times during the school year. After Sunday, the next concert, on Oct. 9, will feature pieces from the American Piano Trio, Al-Zand and Beethoven.
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