2006 PRESIDENT'S REPORT

“When the curtain goes up, it’s electric.
Music helps us convey thoughts and
feelings that we can’t express with
words. The orchestra is an elaborate
machine...each individual working
together to create one voice.”

- Luis Millán -
Assistant Professor, music

When Luis Millán brought the UM symphony orchestra back from a trip to the Seattle area last fall, something felt different. “It felt like a landmark to bring this group out there,” Millán says. “People from the big city sometimes think Montanans don’t know anything about classical music.” But Millán, and the 65 musicians who make up the University’s symphony, turned heads in the Emerald City and at nearby universities with their talent and ability.

“The group is mostly Montana kids,” he says. “It comes with being the flagship arts school in the state.” Those 65 musicians meet with Millán to rehearse three times each week for credit, just like any other college course. The difference, he says, is that no one plays hooky from this class, because a symphony without a first violin player isn’t a symphony. “When one is missing, everyone suffers.”

As director of the UM symphony, Millán’s job is part teacher, part motivational speaker and part public relations specialist. One of his duties is to choose the music that the symphony plays throughout the year. “These aren’t seasoned professionals,” he says. “I have to challenge them but still make sure we sound good.”

And after hours of rehearsal and countless lessons taught to budding musicians on their varying instruments, it is Millán’s turn to play. Only his instrument is them. “They’re the ones making the sound, reading lines,” he says. “I’m the one helping to give it artistic shape.”

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