The South Bend Symphony

South Bend is very fortunate to have an extremely strong local orchestra, the South Bend Symphony. Each season (roughly paralleling the academic year) the symphony performs about half a dozen classical concerts and a few ``pops'' events at the 1920's Morris Performing Arts Center in downtown, some chamber music concerts at the DeBartolo, and some holiday performances (Christmas, Martin Luther King Day, 4th of July).

The strength of the orchestra is partly due to the influence of Tsung Yeh, who served as the music director for 25 years and during his tenure was passionately committed to building a first-class professional ensemble. This year is an exciting one, as Tsung Yeh has just retired and the Symphony has decided to turn the 2016-2017 season into a year-long interview for a replacement. Each of the six classical concerts is being taken on by a different candidate for the music director position.

The third of these six ``interview concerts'' happens this Saturday night at 8pm. The program includes Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Tickets for full time students are just $8! (Combined with a visit to a restaurant week eating spot, that's a great night out for not much).