Staff photo by Clay Schuldt The Martin Luther College (MLC) Wind Symphony and New Ulm Suzuki School of Music came together for a special concert Saturday. MLC Professor Miles Wurster served as the conductor as the ensemble played selections from classical works.

NEW ULM — For the second year in a row, The Martin Luther College (MLC) Wind Symphony and New Ulm Suzuki School of Music collaborated to hold a midwinter concert.

The performance was held at MLC Saturday and is becoming a fun tradition between the two organizations. As with last year, the schools had the music to perform months in advance but had limited rehearsal time.

MLC Professor Miles Wurster served as the conductor for the performance. He said the two groups only came together to rehearse for the performance twice. The first rehearsal was Friday night before the concert. The second rehearsal was in the morning before the performance. Despite the limited rehearsal, the Wind Symphony and Suzuki School were able to meld their sound for an impressive concert.

Wurster said the musical assemble created for the performance had not existed before yesterday and would never exist in the exact same way again. He believed this was one of the unique aspects of music in that no two performances are ever the same again.

This year’s performance featured four musical selections from Georges Bizet’s “Farandole from L’Arliesienne Suite No. 2;” Ronin Hardiman’s “Lord of the Dance” arranged by Larry Moore; Reinhold Gliere’s “Russian Sailors’ Dance” arranged by Merle J. Isaac and George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” arranged by Jerry Brubaker.

Of the four selections performed, “Rhapsody in Blue” was the most challenging. Wurster said it was a relatively long and difficult piece, but they were able to find an arrangement that was true to the original musical work. Wurster said the Gershwin piece was important, as it was a bridge between classical music and jazz.

Wurster was pleased to have another successful collaboration between the MLC and Suzuki Schools. He hoped to continue the annual winter collaboration.

“It is a nice thing to do in January,” he said.