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In the University of Tampa’s Symphony Orchestra, no two musicians are the same. But for moments at a time, members of widely varying backgrounds, ages and skill levels come together in perfect harmony to do what they love.

Megan Maddaleno, assistant professor of music and orchestra conductor, took over as director three years ago and set out to spread enthusiasm for the orchestra across the community. At the time, music professionals in the Tampa area made up over half of the seats, with only six students signed up during the first week of classes that fall. By the next week, after some recruiting efforts, that number went up to 15.

Since then, the official orchestra class, MUS 289, has maintained around 30 students, while the total number stays around 60-70. A new demographic added under Maddaleno’s leadership is local high school students who can apply to join the orchestra through a program that Maddeleno started called the Young Artist Initiative.

“There’s such a treasure trove of talent here in the Tampa Bay region,” said Maddaleno. Shortly after starting at the University, she visited high schools in the area to reinforce her philosophy that “music belongs to everyone.” Maddaleno was inspired to create the Young Artist Initiative to allow younger students to perform side-by-side with the UTampa musicians and receive mentorship from the college students and local professionals.

“They see what it’s like to be an orchestral musician at a higher level than what they might be used to,” said Maddaleno.

Aiden Diefenderfer ’30 is now in his first year at UTampa after joining the orchestra through the Young Artist Initiative while a senior at Steinbrenner High School. Diefenderfer loves a challenge — he chose to play the violin because his middle school band teacher said it was the hardest instrument to learn — and the University orchestra pushed him to perform new pieces that his smaller-sized high school orchestra couldn’t.

Most of the students in the orchestra, including Diefenderfer, aren’t music majors, but choose to make music in their free time because it makes them happy. Diefenderfer, a history major planning to go into secondary education, said that the variety of experiences creates a unique sound that isn’t heard in other orchestras where everyone has the same level of classical training.

Orchestra for All

Maddaleno, a former public-school teacher, is committed to making the symphony orchestra accessible to musicians (there is no fee for participants in the Young Artist Initiative) and the audience.

“The symphonic experience for some people, they think of it and go, ‘Oh, I don’t know when to clap. I don’t know how to dress. It makes me feel like I don’t belong,’” said Maddaleno. “That is the absolute opposite of what I want to encourage in my audiences.”

Last fall, the orchestra held an educational concert titled “Discover the Orchestra,” where the group played a set of compositions that felt familiar and fun, like the Pirates of the Caribbean theme. She also partners with local music shops to host “instrument petting zoos,” where anyone “from the youngest child to the child at heart” can try orchestral instruments for the first time with no pressure or expectations.

The audiences at the concerts have been increasing over the last few years; Maddaleno said they’ve had as many as 850 guests at performances in Falk Theatre.

“I get so many audience members after concerts that are just so thankful that the University of Tampa Symphony Orchestra exists and that we are a free outlet to experience live music,” she said.

Serendipitously, one of the audience members at a recent concert was Maddaleno’s first-ever violin teacher from when she started playing at 5 years old in southern Illinois. Her former teacher had recently moved to Tampa, and after the performance, she brought him on stage, and the two got to look back on all that they’ve both accomplished.

Setting an Example

As a female conductor, Maddaleno doesn’t take her position lightly — she cited a statistic from the League of American Orchestras that only 11% of music directors in the U.S. identify as female. So when music education major and clarinet player Megyn Fonda ’27 became interested with the art of conducting, Maddaleno was thrilled to mentor her.

“Megyn has been allowed the chance to conduct our orchestra in concert, which usually, at a larger institution, would be reserved for the grad students,” said Maddaleno. Since then, Fonda was selected as one of the few undergrads to take a masterclass with Maestro Diane Wittry. “That just goes to show that our smaller class sizes really give big opportunities.”

As a tribute to the female conductors who came before her, a past concert featured Joan Tower’s “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1,” a composition created in response to the 1942 piece, “Fanfare for the Common Man.” In the same concert, the orchestra also played a piece by the Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, who gave a guest lecture and masterclass on campus beforehand.

“(Maddaleno has) introduced me to all kinds of genres and different ways of making music that I probably never would have played before,” said Vanessa Rukholm, associate professor of languages and linguistics who also plays violin in the orchestra. “She’s really great at figuring out how to challenge us but not present us with music that we ultimately could not play.”

Rukholm has played in UTampa’s orchestra for over 10 years and is very excited about the direction the group has been going in recently. As a faculty member, she loves to see Maddaleno and the other professionals mentor the younger musicians. In fact, Rukholm remembered that at recent concert, the orchestra performed a piece by student composer and percussionist Sean Gulling ’27. Before the concert, Gulling took to the stage to describe the inspiration behind his piece.

“It’s great for me to keep playing alongside younger students. They learn from me, I learn from them,” said Rukholm. “(There are) students from all kinds of majors across campus and community members who work in fields very different than mine: engineering, computer science. But we’re all musicians, and we come together twice a week to make beautiful music.”

This semester, the first performance of the season will be the Red, White and Blue concert on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in Falk Theatre. The free show will celebrate the rich tapestry of American musical stories and will feature Music Professor Grigorios Zamparas playing George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” on piano. The orchestra will also hold a Holiday Pops Spectacular on Dec. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. in Falk.