The IUP Symphony Orchestra and String Area is hosting an IUP Honor Orchestra Festival on Saturday, March 25, directed by our new IUP Symphony Orchestra director, Professor Rebekah O’Brien.
String players on violin, viola, cello, and bass in grades 7–12 are invited to apply for a free day of music-making on the IUP campus. The day will begin at 10:00 a.m. and conclude with a short concert at 5:00 p.m.
Apply for the 2023 IUP Honors Orchestra. The application deadline is February 27. For more information, contact Professor O’Brien at robrien@iup.edu.
Professor Rebekah O’Brien was delighted to join the music community at IUP in fall 2022. After receiving a master's in orchestral conducting and music theory from Pennsylvania State University, where she studied with Maestro Gerardo Edelstein, she was appointed orchestra director of the Juniata College Orchestra, where she served for eight years, bringing music to the local coffee shop and prison, and performing on the campus lawn and in the mountains and cathedrals of Germany, France, and Switzerland.
Currently, O’Brien is pursuing her DMA in Orchestral Conducting at Catholic University of America, where she studies with Maestro Simeone Tartaglione and Maestro Murry Sidlin. She has made appearances as a guest conductor and clinician in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Trained in the art of eurythmy, O’Brien also teaches at the Susquehanna Waldorf School.
To keep herself grounded, she can often be found under the hood of her car, learning from her sweetheart, Jeff, how to keep her 2003 Toyota Camry running (it has over 350,000 miles!). She currently lives in State College, Pennsylvania, with her inspiring daughter, Genavieve.