The University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of William LaRue Jones and featuring internationally recognized mezzo-soprano Katharine Goeldner, will perform works by Berlioz and Richard Strauss at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 2, in the Main Lounge of the Iowa Memorial Union. The concert is free and the public is invited to attend.

The first half of the program will be the popular overture Le carnaval romain (Roman Carnival) by Berlioz, and Don Juan by Strauss. After intermission the orchestra will perform Berlioz’ Les nuits d’été, featuring Goeldner, a UI School of Music alumna.

Goeldner, who is now based in Salzburg, Austria, made her Covent Garden debut this year singing Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Royal Ballet, and the most recent of her many Metropolitan Opera roles was Jane Seymour Anna Bolena in February.

Last season, she starred in the title role in the Chicago Lyric Opera production of Carmen, and she is now involved in recording with her chamber-music trio, the Prairie Song Project.

A review in the New York Times described her singing as "excitingly radiant and agile, " and a Newday review praised her "liquid plangent tones... crystal-clear diction and contained, but simmering, intensity." Charles Handelman concluded, “This is a magnificent voice and a consummate musician and artist.”

For more about Goeldner, visit her website. For a bio of Jones, visit the School of Music website.

For more information or special accommodations to attend, contact the School of Music at 319-335-1603. The School of Music is a unit of the Division of Performing Arts in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.