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When Frost School student Winston Thayer finished last spring’s Rock Symphonic, the massive student concert blending pop and orchestral music that he co-created and produced, he and the other student musicians were thrilled at what they’d just achieved – a first of its kind event that drew a large, wildly enthusiastic audience to Gusman Concert Hall, and congratulations from faculty and donors.

Do it again, they have. Rock Symphonic returns on Tuesday, April 29, with more Frost School student musicians, student arrangers, music by students, and more support from faculty and leadership. Thayer and Fuss’s ambitious, outside-the-box idea, an entirely student-run concert of pop-rock bands with a classical orchestra, already looks like a Frost School tradition in the making - a real-life exercise in creativity, collaboration, and resourcefulness.

This year’s Rock Symphonic features five contemporary student groups, up from three last year. They are all-female hard rockers Skyrise, folk-pop-electro singer-songwriter Maeve, indie folk-psychedelic rockers Rug, funk/soul group Puddley, and R&B/rap artist Che AM. The 34-piece orchestra includes both jazz and classical musicians, many from the elite Stamps Scholars ensembles and the Henry Mancini Institute. Instead of just Thayer and his chief collaborator Jennifer Phan, another Media Scoring and Production major, writing the arrangements, they’ve added six more arrangers from multiple programs, who’ve been given more creative leeway in how they unite bands and orchestra. They include Walker Klauda, who is also conducting; and Asher Lurie, a composition major graduating this year who won a school competition to compose for the All-Stamps Ensemble earlier this spring. There’ll be a grand piano onstage, backup singers, and a classical vocalist joining Che AM.

Fuss, a senior, graduates in May, while Thayer, a junior, graduates next spring. But they are working to ensure Rock Symphonic will continue after they leave.

Rock Symphonic is at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, April 29 at Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Dr., Coral Gables. Admission is free.

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/rocksymphonic/

Winston Thayer: https://www.instagram.com/winstonthayer/

Jennifer Phan:https://www.instagram.com/anhsminh.z/

Dawson Fuss: https://www.instagram.com/dawsonfuss/

Last Year's Live Album:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6jR8v95WOAG36woOMUiPbd?trackId=1I3LXyaeasyzCi9oKWLlui

Last Year's video:

https://www.youtube.com/live/kN2dBNEx-pU

Linktree:

https://linktr.ee/rocksymphonic?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAadvr8bsSC7X1T2exdSWC0azC030ps_nNVo5iQES0R9sTBcrjgTGlhhX7TaVUg_aem_kPq8Ac-_W9rrIZHrrThmDQ

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