HRO Plans to Tour Northeast in April; To Visit Washington

The Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra has announced plans for a week-long concert tour of the Northeast during spring vacation. It will be the first time in ten years the group has made such a trip, according to Thomas L. Delbanco '61, president of the Pierian Sodality of 1808, which sponsors the orchestra.

A joint performance with the Harvard Glee Club in Washington's Constitution Hall on April 3 will climax the trip, Delbanco said. More than 3000 Washingtonians are expected to hear the groups' presentation of such works as the Coronation Scene from Boris Godounov.

The musicians expect the coming tour to be considerably more successful than their 1950 effort, which was, Delbanco remarked, "An incredible flop--we went everlastingly into debt." He based his optimism on "greater enthusiasm among the players and vastly improved aid," principally from Harvard Clubs.

Plans for the tour, which are as yet incomplete, call for a performance at Washington College in Chesterton, Md.; a probable stop in Wilmington, Del; and concerts at Swarthmore College and the Harvard Club of New York City, as well as the Washington performance.

Brahms' Third Symphony will be the major work in most of the performances, Delbanco said. The group's repertoire will also include pieces by Stravinsky, Handel, Bach, Mogart, and Debussy, and Lawrence G. Franko '63 will perform Mosart's Concerto in G Minor.

More than 70 of the organization's 30 members will go can the tour, traveling by bus and spending nights in the homes of College alumni. "We intend to combine vacationing with our playing," Delbanco remarked, noting that "the pierian's punch is as famous as its orchestra."