Orchestra performs works of Schubert, Beethoven and Mozart tonight

Works from three of classical music's most famous composers will be performed tonight at the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus during the Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra's second concert of the season.

Southeast music professor Sara Edgerton will conduct the first half of the concert, which will be dominated by Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor, better known as Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony." The two movements of Schubert will be followed by Ludwig von Beethoven's "Egmont" Overture.

Steve Hendricks, also a music professor at Southeast, will conduct the orchestra as it performs one of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's most famous choral works, "Coronation" Mass.

At 6:45 p.m. Edgerton will give a pre-concert talk to give background information about the performance, which begins at 7:30.

"I will be talking about the three composers -- Schubert, Beethoven and Mozart," Edgerton said, "and about how the pieces compare and contrast."

Schubert began composing the symphony in 1822, six years before his death, and completed the first two movements. He composed a piano score for a third movement, but the orchestral arrangement was left undone.

"We're not going to try to finish the 'Unfinished Symphony,'" Edgerton said. "The first two movements are so beautiful in and of themselves."

The first half of the concert concludes with the "Egmont" overture.

After the intermission, the University Choir and the Choral Union will join the orchestra in performing the "Coronation" Mass. The University Choir is composed of university students, while students, faculty and community members make up the Choral Union.

About 300 tickets remain for the concert, according to River Campus box office director Ellen Farrow. Tickets can be purchased at the box office up until performance time.