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The UT Symphony Orchestra Performs Shostakovich's Epic Tenth Symphony

In 1953, Dmitri Shostakovich broke the "curse of the 9th" by composing his tenth symphony. Widely regarded as his "greatest" symphony, Shostakovich was finally free to compose as he wished, as Stalin had died earlier that year and, along with him, his oppressive regime, which greatly restricted composers (along with other artists and musicians) with the music that they could create. Hidden within the work is a musical depiction of Stalin and cryptograms of Shostakovich's own name, as well as that of a suspected girlfriend. Joy and elation are finally expressed at the end of this emotional and sometimes brooding work. 

This Sunday afternoon, October 22nd, the UT Symphony Orchestra will perform this technically and artistically challenging work. The performance is free and open to the public and begins at 4pm in Cox Auditorium, located in the Alumni Memorial building on the UT campus.

Melony calls the beautiful mountains of Boone, N.C., home, although she was born near Greensboro, N.C. There’s just something about those Blue Ridge Mountains that got in her blood and never left after she moved there to attend Appalachian State University (ASU). While at ASU, she majored in piano performance and music therapy and began to cultivate a love for accompanying and for collaborating with other musicians. This soon led her to earn a master’s degree in collaborative piano at the University of Tennessee, which she attended from 2006-2008.