Many events are taking place during Family Weekend this year, including the Symphony Sampler provided by The Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra.

The Symphony Sampler started almost 10 years ago and is held every year to give Southeast Missouri State University students and local Cape Girardeau residents a snippet of the year's upcoming symphony concerts.

Director of the Southeast Missouri State University Symphony Orchestra Dr. Sara Edgerton said that the show originated to create the needed "buzz" for the start of the orchestra season.

"We started it [the symphony sampler] before we came down to the River Campus as an idea of generating interest about the orchestra," Edgerton said. "It was an idea of kicking off the season."

Though the sampler date changes depending on the year, Edgerton is happy that the symphony sampler fell on Family Weekend this year.

"We usually try to do it the fourth week of the semester because it's great timing before our first big concert," Edgerton said. "We try to do it during Family Weekend but sometimes family weekend is too early or too late, but this year is perfect."

Edgerton hopes students will be interested in the different themes that the orchestra will be playing this year. Pieces that will be played during the symphony sampler will include some Spanish pieces, an excerpt from "Star Wars," an excerpt from Beethoven's 9th symphony, and an excerpt from the opening of the London symphony by Von Williams.

Although there is already a list of pieces ready to play, Edgerton said that there might be some new surprises at this year's Symphony Sampler.

"We're in the process of still preparing it," Edgerton said. "We're still deciding what exactly we want to play for the sampler, so there may be a few surprises."

Even though this event has been going on for years, Edgerton believes that this year will be different because they are having giveaways. During both shows they will give away a pair of tickets to each one of their symphony concerts.

The Symphony Sampler will be held on Sunday Sept. 21 in the Robert F. and Gertrude L. Shuck Music Recital Hall inside of the Seminary Building at the River Campus. There will be two shows including one show at 2 p.m. and the second following at 3 p.m. Each concert will last about 45 minutes.

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