On  Saturday, Feb. 4th, Millikin music students joined together with the Decatur Symphony Orchestra to perform in our very own Kirkland Fine Arts Center. This harmonious unification is one of the few times Millikin combined with a city’s entity, and through this union came a powerful performance of symphony and euphony.

The value in this concert was its collaboration with a select group of Millikin students to engage in a larger, professional show in which they got to illustrate the beauties of their practice for a broader audience. The notable guest artists of the evening included senior trombonist John Robinson, senior flutist Madeline Moylan, and senior vocalist Lauren Jones.

John Robinson has performed with the Millikin Decatur Symphony Orchestra since his freshman year, and was the opening lead performer of the evening. His trombone style includes a background in Jazz, which could be heard upon the stage as he performed a rendition of “Trombone Concerto Movement 1 & 3.” The audience was moved by the steadiness of his solo, and the rise and fall in his lead of the orchestra, forming a bond with the orchestra which listeners got to experience as well.

The guest performer who led the second and fourth songs of the evening was soprano Lauren Jones. Her operatic voice engaged the audience with its stunning abilities and large-scaling vocal range. Her complementary singing pleasantly warmed the orchestral performance, while also tuning the audience’s open ears to the softer emotions of the symphony.

Senior Flute Performance Major, Madeline Moylan, caught the audience’s attention during the third solo of the evening with her performance of “Flute Concerto, Movement 1.” Her beautiful touch of the instrument guided listeners to a melodic tune, relaxing all sensory, and taking us to a scene of nature. This gripping solo enacted a subtle voice through its music, speaking to us through flute, and giving us a memory we will never forget.  

After intermission, the symphony was able to guide us through the heart of Mozart with his Symphony No. 41 (Jupiter). Never have I seen such a performance, which was crafted by a genius and now played by the greatest music ensemble in central Illinois. The touch of Mozart could really be felt by the audience, and there is no doubt that the performers practiced with the heart of this great composer in mind.

The four-part performance painted a picture of musical expertise as the orchestra splashed their instrumental paintbrushes on the canvas of our ears. I felt myself molding into the symphonic environment around me and I was no longer in Kirkland, but in a field, among the winds, strings, percussions, as they slowed down, sped up, twirled us around and brought us home after a long yearning to become one with the family of music.

While the opportunity to see this wondrous performance has sadly passed for this year, it is luckily a yearly collaboration between the city of Decatur and selected Millikin students. This opportunity is a wildly gracious one for the students here, as it presents them with the chance to work with experienced performers, practice and perform for a greater audience, to be heard and recorded, and to potentially lead the show, as John Robinson, Madeline Moylan, and Lauren Jones got to do. This exciting show delineates the prominence of orchestral music in our society, and imprints its mark across all of the greater central Illinois area, as it highlights some of Millikin’s great student performers in their collaboration with the musicians of the Decatur area. Millikin can proudly claim these wonderful showmen as the progressive musicians of our near future.