Kenneth Kiesler, conductor
Cheryl Pandora, Winner, 2025 SMTD Concerto Competition, piano

PROGRAM

Toccata (world premiere) - Braxton Blake

Piano Concerto No. 3 - Sergei Prokofiev

Symphony No. 8 in G Major - Antonín Dvořák

The University Symphony Orchestra, led by its GRAMMY-nominated music director Kenneth Kiesler, invites you to a concert of brilliant, powerful, and expressive music – some new and exciting, some known and beloved – for large symphony orchestra. The program opens with the world premiere of Toccata by the brilliant and accomplished Ann Arbor composer Braxton Blake. Written expressly for the USO, it is a thrilling sonic whirlwind designed to showcase the skills of each musician and the collective virtuosity of this GRAMMY-winning orchestra! Winner of the 2025 SMTD Concerto Competition, Cheryl Pandora (MM ’26, piano) takes center stage to perform the high voltage tour de force which is Sergei Prokofiev’s colorful and dramatic Piano Concerto No. 3, and the evening concludes in the heart of Bohemia with the beloved Symphony No. 8 of Dvořák with its folk-inspired songs, dances, and marches, as well its warm nostalgia, pastoral imagery, and dramatic storytelling.