The University Symphony Orchestra (USO) under Dr. Alexander Jiménez is set to launch into spring with an evening of high-energy performances including a showcase for one of the University’s distinguished faculty soloists and the return of a modern orchestral titan.
On Saturday, February 21 the University Symphony Orchestra will open the program in Ruby Diamond Concert Hall with Lili Boulanger’s D’un Matin du Printemps (Of a Spring Morning), a rarely heard work. In 1913 Boulanger would become the first woman to win first prize in the Prix de Rome, a French scholarship for arts students. D’un Matin du Printemps would be one of the last pieces that she would compose. Boulanger, who died at the young age of 24 only five years after winning the Prix de Rome, was the sister of the famed composition pedagogue and conductor, Nadia Boulanger. This work will be conducted by graduate associate conductor Thomas Roggio.
Following the opening work, Assistant Professor of Trombone Hana Beloglavec will join the USO in a performance of Dani Howard’s Trombone Concerto. Howard is a British composer and orchestrator who is quickly gaining international attention. Her work has been commissioned and performed by such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. Described by the International Trombone Association as “a celebration of human resilience and connection,” audiences can expect a dynamic performance, from quiet introspection to joyous celebration. This performance will be the Tallahassee premiere.
The second half of the program will be devoted to Igor Stravinsky’s masterpiece, The Rite of Spring. Considered one of the most significant works in orchestral music, The Rite of Spring was premiered in 1913 to a shocked Parisian audience who had never heard anything like it. The ballet tells a two-part story set in pagan, prehistoric Russia, and a young girl who is chosen to dance herself to death as a sacrifice to the gods of spring.
Frequently described in terms like restless, driven, energetic, and dark, the music is considered one of the first and most defining modernist works, shifting focus toward raw, rhythmic power and away from Romanticism. Nijinsky’s choreography for the ballet was just as groundbreaking as Stravinsky’s score – an aggressive challenge to contemporary sensibilities. In an interview with NPR, Music commentator Miles Hoffman described The Rite of Spring as ”one of the greatest creative leaps in not only the history of music, but in the history of the arts.”
This performance is one that you won’t want to miss, but for those who just can’t make it in person, the College of Music is also livestreaming the performance at wfsu.org/fsumusic.
Event Details
University Symphony Orchestra Concert
Saturday, February 21, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Ruby Diamond Concert Hall (RDCH)
Tickets: Available at tickets.music.fsu.edu
Live stream: wfsu.org/fsumusic
