A partnership between UNO and UNMC is bringing new opportunities for musical engagement between the campuses with a new orchestra at UNMC that will launch this fall.

In partnership with the UNO School of Music, the orchestra will play under the baton of Matthew Brooks, D.M.A., director of orchestras at UNO. Players of all orchestral instruments (woodwinds, strings, percussion and brass) are needed. All are welcome to play with no audition required. The brainchild of UNMC’s Matt Rizzo, M.D., a cellist who saw a vibrant version of a campus orchestra while at the University of Iowa, and Washington Garcia, D.M.A., concert pianist and director of the UNO School of Music in the College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media. Click here to find out more about the Med Center Orchestra.

Additionally, students, faculty and staff at UNO have a similar initiative available to them on campus (at Strauss Performing Arts Center) through the Heartland Philharmonic Orchestra, which is comprised of members from UNO and the Omaha community. The orchestra presents a minimum of two concerts each semester covering a wide range of repertoire from the Baroque era to the present. Auditions are held each fall.