Shepherd School Symphony and Chamber Orchestras

From its inception in 1975, the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University has emphasized orchestral training as a central element in its performing curriculum. The orchestral program is comprised of a Symphony Orchestra of one hundred-plus music students and a Chamber Orchestra of some fifty music students. Both orchestras are of equal caliber, differentiated only by the repertoire they perform.

Players rehearse three times each week, attend classes in orchestral repertoire, and benefit from sectionals with our experienced orchestral faculty. 

Works performed in the 2023–2024 season by the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra include Barber's Symphony No. 1 in One Movement, Barber's Knoxville Summer of 1915 (Michelle Bradley, soprano), Jennifer Higdon's Concerto for Orchestra, Scriabin's Poème de l'extase (Poem of Ecstasy), Stravinsky's The Firebird (1910), Brahms's Symphony No. 2, Jessie Montgomery's Hymn for Everyone, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, Jimmy López Bellido's Fiesta!, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, Gabriela Lena Frank's Elegia Andina, Strauss's Suite from Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, Caroline Shaw's The Observatory, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Additionally, various concertos performed by student concerto competition winners, works by student composers, operas, and contemporary ensemble works were featured throughout the season.

The Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra has a history of touring, including visits to New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Baltimore’s Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. 

Walter Kris Hubert Professor Emeritus of Orchestral Conducting

Larry Rachleff leaves an indelible legacy that will endure at the Shepherd School for generations. As a longtime conductor of the Rice Shepherd School of Music Symphony and Chamber Orchestras for more than three decades, he was renowned throughout the classical music world for his deep musical understanding, powerful interpretation of scores, and rapport with performance ensembles. Larry passed away in August 2022 at the age of 67 after a long battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.