Help create a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for WWU student musicians to learn and perform in Germany!
This WWU Give Day, we are thrilled to officially launch the Western Symphony Orchestra's upcoming Germany Tour! In June of 2027, 45 student musicians from the WSO will embark on an eight-day, six-night concert tour of Germany, with concerts in Munich, Leipzig, and Berlin—culminating in a performance at the Brandenburg Cathedral's prestigious Summer Music Festival.
Along the way, Western's student musicians will spend time exploring important historical sites, including:
- Neuschwanstein Castle, the fairytale castle in which Nazi Germany hid countless stolen artworks during World War II.
- Bayreuth Festspielhaus, Richard Wagner's iconic opera house
- Leipzig's Bach Archive, home to the composer's original manuscripts
- Thomaskirche, where Bach is buried
- The legendary Berliner Philharmonie Concert Hall
- The Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie
- Berlin's Holocaust Memorial, and Checkpoint Charlie
We Need Your Help!
The total expenses of this tour, including airfare, lodging, ground transportation, cultural site admissions, and instrument and venue rentals add up to $225,000. The budgeted cost for each student participant is $4,000, which leaves $46,000 remaining to raise over the next year-and-a-half. Every dollar raised beyond that will go towards reducing each student's participation costs.
Travel opportunities like this are invaluable to our students—not only in their musical lives, but also in their larger growth and development as global citizens. In keeping with the WWU Music Department's shared value of bringing access to world-class musical experiences to all of our students, your contribution today will help to ensure that every student who wants to participate in this experience will have the ability to do so.
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WSO LUNCH SPECIAL
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For Give Day 2026, we are focused on engaging as many people as possible between 12PM and 2PM to win the "Lunchtime Crunchtime" challenge, which awards large bonuses to the campaigns with the largest donor engagement (not dollars raised) during that window. Your gift of as little as $10 could help unlock thousands of dollars in challenge funds from the WWU Foundation and College of Fine and Performing Arts!
Every gift is helpful, and donors who make a contribution of over $100 will receive a WSO mug!
ABOUT THE ORCHESTRA
Comprised of 70-80 of the finest student musicians from across the WWU campus, the Western Symphony Orchestra gives 5-6 performances each year, including traditional concerts, educational programs, operas, live-to-film productions, and an annual concerto competition concert featuring student soloists. Every four years, the WSO embarks on an international performance tour, most recently traveling to Spain in June of 2023.
Committed to advancing the discourse on orchestral music, the Western Symphony Orchestra has given world, American, and Pacific Northwest premieres of works by John Williams, William Bolcom, Kaija Saariaho, Mason Bates, Missy Mazzoli, and Roger Briggs. The WSO also frequently collaborates with faculty and guest artists, along with the Western Choirs and Opera Theatre.
The orchestra is also dedicated to performing works by underrepresented and Indigenous composers, and in recent years has given performances of major pieces by Brent Michael Davids, William Levi Dawson, Nathaniel Dett, Nkeiru Okoye, Florence Price, Silvestre Revueltas, William Grant Still, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate
Recent highlights include the unofficial US Premiere of John Williams' Prelude and Scherzo for Piano and Orchestra, featuring Grammy-winning pianist Gloria Cheng; the first live performance of the landmark Gil Evans/Miles Davis collaboration Sketches of Spain in the Pacific Northwest; conference appearances at the College Orchestra Directors Association and National Association for Music Education; a memorized, choreographed, and costumed production of Peter and the Wolf; and the second-ever performance of Bruce Ruddell’s The Healing Heart of the First People of This Land, commissioned by Upper Skagit elder Vi taqʷšəblu Hilbert.
Thank you so much for your support!
