By Hilary Igl

At midnight any day of the week the trill of violins, trumpets, clarinets and many other instruments can be heard when walking by practice rooms in the Center of the Arts.

The late-night preparations mean the Whitewater Symphony Orchestra members have an upcoming performance.

Senior violinist and concertmaster of the orchestra Amber Burgermeister said she practices as often as possible.

“There’s always more to practice,” Burgermeister said. “That’s why people are in this building until 2 to 3 in the morning. Why would you want to sleep when you can be making the music you want to when you’re awake?”

Burgermeister has played violin since kindergarten and will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in music in May 2015.

Fellow orchestra member and trumpet player Nate Moe, who will graduate in December with a trumpet performance major, said he looks forward to performing the pieces Whitewater Symphony Orchestra Director Chris Ramaekers selected.

“I love being able to interpret music and tell an audience what I think this music means,” Moe said.

The orchestra will play three different pieces: Rossini’s “Overature” from “An Italian in Algiers,” Haydn’s “Symphony No. 104” in D major from London and Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 2- Little Russian.”

“I really love the Haydn piece because it’s just such a happy piece,” said Ramaekers.

He found two themes in his selections: pieces from around the world (London, Italy, and Russia) and music that relates to each other.

“In the pieces, there are musical elements that sort of talk to each other,” Ramaekers said. “The Overature and the Tchaikovsky symphony are the same structure, or sort of the same flow or format. With five short notes and the same idea, one is really light and really happy and one is really not.”

In preparation for the upcoming concert, Burgermeister and Moe said they wish more of the student body came to their performances.

“I really think [students would] leave with an appreciation for what we do if they went in with an open mind,” Burgermeister said. “Admittedly, we don’t perform any pop music as a symphony orchestra, but it’s more about being in the presence of a live performance. It’s witnessing every person playing and bowing in unison, watching the players portray emotion and communicate on stage, all under the conductor’s wave of his baton while he dances on the podium. There’s nothing else like it.”

Moe said he thinks it’s an opportunity for students to see what they have been working on all semester.

“We have a great conductor and some awesome music being played in a great hall,” Moe said.

The concert will begin at 3 p.m. on Oct. 18 in the Young Auditorium.

Tickets will be $5 for the general public, $4 for people over 65 and $3 for minors and UW-Whitewater students.