Barbara Schubert—Conductor of the University Symphony Orchestra and Director of the Performance Program—was featured in a UChicago News article about her extraordinary 50-year tenure at UChicago. This year, Schubert celebrates half a century at the helm of the University Symphony Orchestra, where she has shaped generations of musicians. Nearly 100 alumni will return to campus May 8-10 for Opus 50, a yearlong celebration of Schubert's tenure which culminates in a full weekend of events, including an alumni mixer, a performance of Brahms' Academic Festival Overture, and an afternoon picnic.
Read an excerpt of the article below, and click here to read the whole feature by Benjamin Ransom in UChicago News.
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With baton in hand, Barbara Schubert steps up to her podium before the University Symphony Orchestra.
The musicians sit at the ready, eyes on their conductor. Tall and poised, Schubert casts her gaze over the players. Then, as she has for the past 50 years, she lifts her arm—and the music starts, rising and swelling to fill Mandel Hall on the University of Chicago campus.
For Schubert, nothing compares to the rush she feels leading the orchestra.
“People say that being a conductor is like having a fatal disease, in that you get bitten by it and then you can't escape because it’s so compelling,” she said. “The exhilaration that comes from experiencing and being an integral part of a live performance, I think is unmatched.”
This devotion to her craft has driven her through a half-century at the front of the ensemble. In that time, she has pushed generations of musicians—students from all fields of study, plus alumni who never quite wanted to leave—to perform works that would challenge even professional orchestras. In the process, Schubert built a community that, for many, has been a defining piece of their UChicago experience.
This May, nearly 100 alumni who've played for Schubert will return to Mandel Hall to take the stage with her again. The Opus 50 concerts, May 9 and 10, are the Department of Music's tribute to her work at the podium and beyond.
Over the course of the weekend, they’ll present music from Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler, sit in on open rehearsals and swap stories from five decades as they reconnect with classmates they haven't seen since college.
For some, the orchestra has become a family tradition. Alumnus violinist Alexandra Hobaugh, now a lawyer, met her husband Michael when they were both students in the orchestra. Years later, their two daughters followed them into the orchestra to play with Schubert as well.
"She's created a space for creativity in our lives and helped souls bloom—whether they knew it at the time or not," Hobaugh said.