The University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra will present a special preview performance of its first season concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2, at the Fine Arts Building on the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Jefferson Davis campus.

Under the baton of music director Jay Dean, the 90-member orchestra will perform a program of music, including Debussy’s La Mer; Vivaldi’s Concerto for Guitar in D Major; Marquez’s Danzon No. 2 and Sierra’s Folias.

On Oct. 9, the season-opening concert will feature famed guitarist Manuel Barrueco at Bennett Auditorium on the Hattiesburg campus. For the preview concert at MGCCC, Southern Miss Assistant Professor of Music Nicolas Ciraldo will perform with the orchestra. Ciraldo directs the School of Music guitar studio.

In addition to his teaching, Ciraldo has performed as an artist-in-residence with the Quadrivium Guitar Quartet throughout rural Kentucky for New Performing Arts, with the Ciraldo Duo for the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and for the Austin Classical Guitar Society. He is also founder of the Hammer/Nail Project, a program that links student composers and guitarists and shows how to write for the guitar in the most idiomatic way possible.

The Symphony’s 2008-09 season is sponsored by BancorpSouth. Admission for this performance on the Jefferson Davis campus is free. For more information, call the Southern Miss Symphony office at 601.266.4001.

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About The University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi, founded in 1910, is a comprehensive doctoral and research-extensive university fulfilling its mission of being a leading university in engaging and empowering individuals to transform lives and communities. In a tradition of leadership for student development, Southern Miss is educating a 21st century work force providing intellectual capital, cultural enrichment and innovation to Mississippi and the world. Southern Miss is located in Hattiesburg, Miss., with an additional campus and teaching and research sites on the Mississippi Gulf Coast; further information is found at www.usm.edu .