On Monday, March 2, the Western Illinois University Symphony Orchestra played in the Pattonville Auditorium. This was a stop on their recruiting tour.

“They are on a recruiting tour in the area and asked if they could play at Pattonville,” Pattonville orchestra teacher Mr. Daniel Henderson said. “We also have a former Pattonville orchestra member [Kaitlyn Hirschbeck, 2012] that is in their group.”

Their performance highlighted two soloists, Joseph Noel Cruz Valdes (violin) and Amy A. Broadbent (piano). They also played two other pieces.

“I enjoyed the performance a lot,” junior Rania Daoud said. “There was this guy that played a solo (Valdes) and it was absolutely amazing.”

After the performance was over, their conductor, Dr. Richard Hughey, opened it up for questions and talked a little about their orchestra. During this time, he showed how many student musicians were on scholarships and what they all were studying. He also talked about how diverse their orchestra is as there were musicians from Romania, Mexico, Philippines, and a few other countries.