The students of the University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra (UGASO), along with an unconventional combination of faculty soloists, usher in a new year of concerts for the Thursday Scholarship Series when the orchestra performs in Hodgson Concert Hall on Thursday, Sept. 7, at 7:30 p.m.

The Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s flagship concert series opens with one of its most notable large ensembles performing classics from Barber, Haydn and Tchaikovsky.

The Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s first major concert of the 2017-2018 season evokes fire and ice in a Hodgson Wind Ensemble performance in Hodgson Concert Hall on Friday, Sept. 1, at 8 p.m.

The Hodgson School’s premier wind ensemble—led by Cynthia Johnston Turner, director of bands—is no stranger to adventurous, evocative works, but this concert’s program is particularly ambitious.

Matthew Hoch, associate professor of voice at Auburn University, will perform with Auburn colleague Jeremy Samolesky, associate professor of piano, in a guest artist recital at the UGA Performing Arts Center’s Ramsey Concert Hall on Friday, Sept. 1, at 6 p.m.

The duo, hosted by the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, will perform a special recital that examines Franz Schubert’s final year, 1828, and the work he created in that year.

The Hugh Hodgson School of Music hosts guest artists from the Southeast, South America and Europe for a three-day chamber music event on August 29-31 in the UGA Performing Arts Center.

The UGA International Chamber Music Festival will hold three performances in Ramsey Concert Hall at 8 p.m. each day of the festival, featuring international guest artists playing alongside Hodgson School faculty members.

The Yargo Trio—Connie Frigo, associate professor of saxophone; Angela Jones-Reus, professor of flute; and Liza Stepanova, assistant professor of piano—stage one of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music’s first recitals of the 2017-2018 season in Ramsey Concert Hall on Friday, Aug. 25, at 6 p.m.

The trio’s recital is a unique performance that heralds the release of their new album, “Voices, Reimagined,” and reflects the unconventional nature of their collaboration. 

UGA students will have a chance this fall to dig into the musical roots of the city that incubated countless bands and musicians—from R.E.M. to Danger Mouse to Vic Chesnutt—with the “Music in Athens” course.

MUSI 2300 and its honors counterpart, MUSI 2300H, are introductory-level, general studies courses taught by, respectively, Christian Lopez, head of the Russell Library Oral History Program, and Dr. Susan Thomas, professor of music and women’s studies at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. 

Four highly sought-after music educators and performers will take on new faculty roles at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music in the 2017-2018 academic year.

David Fung and Emily Koh join the faculty at the University of Georgia’s music school, and current Hodgson School professors Alison Farley and Liza Stepanova will step into new positions.

Every April, dozens of elementary and middle-school students take the stage of the University of Georgia Performing Arts Center’s 1,100-seat Hodgson Concert Hall. The music education majors who instructed them for a year or more introduce them, conduct them and play alongside them.

And at the end, when families crowd forward with cell phones pointed to the stage, the school children hold their certificates, the college students stand behind them, and the whole group smiles wide, all equally accomplished after a year of work.

Athens’ storied musical tradition continues with the 2017-2018 Thursday Scholarship Series, the flagship concert series from the Hugh Hodgson School of Music. 

The concert series, which continues the tradition of “Music Appreciation Programs” started by Hugh Hodgson in the 1930s, features the finest ensembles, faculty and students from the University of Georgia’s music school each month of the fall and spring semesters. Proceeds from the series are a major funding source for many students’ music scholarships and graduate assistantships.

The faculty and staff of the Hugh Hodgson School of Music capped the 2017-2018 academic year by giving one award and receiving another.

Emily Gertsch, lecturer in Composition & Theory, was given the School’s inaugural Excellence in Teaching Award. This award honors a faculty member in the Hodgson School who has shown a sustained commitment and achievement in high-quality instruction.

A group of fellow faculty members approved Gertsch’s nomination, earning her the award and a $500 research allowance for the next academic year.