Quad City Symphony Presents Another World Premiere at This Weekend’s Concerts
The Quad City Symphony Orchestra (QCSO) continues its 2025–26 Masterworks season with another world premiere from a female composer this weekend.
Masterworks V: Beethoven Second Symphony – a dynamic program that highlights rhythmic vitality, artistic innovation, and the power of personal storytelling through music – will be presented Saturday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the Adler Theatre in Davenport and Sunday, March 8, at 2 p.m. at Augustana College’s Centennial Hall in Rock Island.
The concert opens with Leonard Bernstein’s Three Dance Episodes from On the Town, a spirited suite that captures the pulse and exuberance of New York City, according to a QCSO release. The centerpiece of the evening is the world premiere of Rebecca Burkhardt’s Ballet for Cello and Orchestra, written for and performed by QCSO principal cellist Hannah Holman that will take the audience on a sonic journey from Detroit, through Iowa, and to New York City. The program concludes with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, a joyful and boldly crafted work that showcases Beethoven’s early symphonic voice.
Conductor Mark Russell Smith leads the Quad City Symphony Orchestra.
Composer Rebecca Burkhardt reflected on the creation of the new concerto:
“This concerto was a pleasure to write for Hannah Holman. I wanted the work to reflect on her life and the lives of those who pursue the performance arts as a living,” she wrote for the QCSO release. “Since Hannah can play just about anything, it was wonderful to create something challenging but enjoyable (I hope!) for the soloist and orchestra to perform.”
Rebecca Burkhardt is sought after as a guest conductor for professional and educational orchestras throughout the United States and abroad. She served as the Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Northern Iowa from 1988-2020. Besides her duties as Music Director of the Northern Iowa Symphony Orchestra, she performed as the conductor for the UNI Opera Theatre, and served as a professor on the music theory and conducting faculties at UNI.
Composer Rebecca Burkhardt was director of orchestral activities at University of Northern Iowa from 1988 to 2020 and currently lives in Santa Fe, N.M.
Dr. Burkhardt’s compositions are wide-ranging including works in the choral, chamber music, orchestral, and musical theatre genres, according to her bio. Her commissions include incidental music for The Laramie Project and Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Where Sky, Where Pilgrim for the choral ensemble Bel Canto Cedar Valley, BluesWomenTryptich for the string ensemble Trio 826, and Fanfare for a First Lady composed in honor of Michelle Obama’s UNI commencement address. A Scotch Verdict, her musical written in collaboration with Cynthia Goatley, was presented in a concert performance as a part of Stages, a new musical festival sponsored by Theatre Building Chicago.
Her newest musical, Just Ann, another collaboration with Goatley, is based on the life of Texas Governor Ann Richards and received a workshop performance in 2017.
From Dialogue of the Carmelites and Madame Butterfly to Fiddler on the Roof and HAIR, her opera and theatre performances encompass the gamut of music-drama and musical comedy. She has appeared as guest conductor with professional, university and high school honor orchestras throughout the nation and internationally in Russia, France, Brazil, Costa Rica and China. Her honors include the Award for Faculty Excellence given by the Iowa Board of Regents and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the College Orchestra Directors Association, for which she served twice as national president.
Holman expressed her excitement for the world premiere:
“I am so very honored and excited to bring this world premiere to the Quad Cities. This concerto is extraordinary; Rebecca has created a masterpiece, weaving quotes and references from three states I have lived in— Iowa, Michigan, and NY,” she wrote. “It’s powerful; she uses colors and sonorities that I have never heard of before. It’s deep, it resonates with the human spirit, sometimes struggling, remaining hopeful and overcoming.
“One other super cool element is that I will be performing this piece on a Carl Becker cello that was made for my GRANDMOTHER in 1926!” Holman said. “A true celebration of women in music, and the 100th anniversary of this instrument. My grandmother, Eleanor Holman, was my first cello teacher, and I feel her with me always when I play, but especially through this beautiful instrument!”
“This month’s concerts tell so much about what we at the Quad City Symphony are all about,” QCSO music director and conductor Mark Russell Smith said in the orchestra release. “We have amazing musicians like Hannah Holman in our orchestra, who are not just expert orchestral players but also fantastic soloists in their own right.
“We believe in fostering new music with commissions and world premieres, like Rebecca Burkhardt’s new concerto written specifically for Hannah. And we believe in championing the enduring masterworks that the great composers have given us, and we believe in playing them with passion and commitment,” he said. “This will be clearly demonstrated with our performances of Beethoven’s Second Symphony. This is a program that has something for everyone — I am very excited to bring this music to our QC audiences.”
For tickets and more information, call the QCSO at 563-322-7276 or visit qcso.org.
This weekend’s QCSO concerts feature a world premiere by composer Rebecca Burkhardt (left) for QC Symphony principal cellist Hannah Holman.
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