PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — How does a conductor balance their interpretation of a piece of music with the composer’s intent? With so many instruments in an orchestra, how do they understand each of them profoundly enough to offer feedback? How do they decide what to focus on during each rehearsal?

Those are some of the questions a group of Brown University students posed to Rhode Island Philharmonic conductor Ruth Reinhardt during a talkback session at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence. It followed a nearly three-hour rehearsal for the public premiere of a new violin concerto, “The Mountains We Climb,” by Eric Nathan, an associate professor of music at Brown and the Philharmonic’s inaugural composer in residence.

First-year student Sihan Emma Bian said it was a memorable experience to learn about the piece in class directly from Nathan, hear it performed live by dozens of professional musicians and listen to comments from the conductor. 

“I’ve never experienced something like this,” Bian said. “I noticed that he can convey such a range of emotion through the instruments.” 

Nathan organized the opportunity for students in his Introduction to Composition and Advanced Music Theory II courses at Brown. He led them through an analysis of the piece during class before attending the rehearsal and talkback session. 

“Having students come to an open rehearsal is invaluable,” Nathan said. “It shows a behind-the-scenes look at a stage of the composition process — bringing a piece from the page into performance — that is crucial but that we don’t often get classroom experience with, particularly within the ecosystem and culture of a professional symphony orchestra.”