Carroll Symphony Orchestra to present Masterworks concert Feb. 7 featuring young composers

Carroll Symphony Orchestra conductor Terry Lowry said the orchestra will present a Masterworks concert Friday, Feb. 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the Carroll County Schools Performing Arts Center, featuring the main title from Star Wars, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (which Lowry will play while conducting), two winning pieces from the orchestra’s statewide young-composer competition and the premiere of Lowry’s second symphony.

The program spotlights the orchestra’s long-running young-composer outreach, which Lowry described as “one of the most innovative outreach programs” the organization runs and said has led the ensemble to premiere more than 160 orchestral compositions by K–12 students from across Georgia. “We perform the winning compositions from our statewide young composer competition,” Lowry said, adding that winners receive orchestration lessons and rehearsals with the orchestra.

Lowry said the Masterworks concert also helps set repertoire for the orchestra’s season: the ensemble presents between “50 and 60 concerts a year” through the Carroll Symphony Orchestra Foundation and uses the Masterworks program to plan the rest of the season. The evening’s program opens with the Star Wars main title by John Williams, moves to Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Lowry at the piano, includes two young-composer winners—Walter Wu, a fourth grader at Carrollton Upper Elementary School, and Adalynn Key, an eighth grader at Bremen Middle School—and closes with Lowry’s second symphony, which he described as having “unusual instrumentation” including drum set and electric bass.

Lowry described the young-composer competition’s format and education components: the program provides a short thematic starting point to music teachers, limits entries to four minutes, sends submissions to judges, and then gives winners orchestration instruction and opportunities to hear their works played in rehearsal and on the concert stage. He called the process “life changing” for young writers, recalling an early winner whose piece earned a standing ovation from 600 seventh-graders, and citing alumni who later studied film scoring at Berkeley and composition at Stanford.

Lowry credited the Carroll Symphony Orchestra Foundation, the orchestra’s guild and local sponsors for sustaining the program. He named the City of Carrollton, Carroll County, the Center for the Arts, Southwire, SMI, Bain Dental Group, Advantage Office Solutions, 316 Healthcare and Scott Evans (Nissan and Dodge) among supporters.

Tickets for the Feb. 7 concert are available by calling (770) 838-1083. Lowry also directed listeners to the orchestra’s website for information and donations. “When people give money to the Carroll Symphony Orchestra, they know that it’s going to a great cause that’s going to make this a better place to live and raise a family,” Lowry said.

The Masterworks performance is part of a multi-year Beethoven cycle the orchestra has been presenting; Lowry said the ensemble plans to perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in 2027, the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death.