PIERIAN SODALITY HAS REACHED HIGH STANDARD

The Pierian Sodality has elected the following officers for the ensuing year: Conductor, Modeste Eugene Alloo, of Cambridge; president, Wilfred Jacobs Brown '17, of Plymouth; vice-president, Albert Sprague Coolidge 1G., of Pittsfield; secretary, Winfield Scott Libbey '18, of Lewiston, Me.; treasurer, Philip Dudley Woodbridge '17, of West Newton; manager, David Oakes Woodbury '18, of Ogunquit, Me.; assistant manager, Leo Berthier Drake '18, of Lewiston, Me.

The policy of the Pierian has undergone several changes this year. Contrary to the custom of recent years, a professional conductor has had charge of the orchestra. In accepting the services of Mr. Modeste Alloo, of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, it was hoped that the Pierian would be able to attain more in musical achievement than has been usually the case when an inexperienced student has had charge of the organization.

That Mr. Alloo was eminently qualified to lead the Orchestra is attested by the success which the Pierian has attained this year. For although at the beginning of the past year the material out of which to build an orchestra was not one to boast of as compared with that of previous years, yet the Pierian developed so consistently that its performance more than equalled that of any past year. The program of modern French and Flemish music given at the Annual Concert in Sanders Theatre was a difficult one for any amateur orchestra to undertake, particularly the symphony of Dukas', and was much beyond anything the Pierian has attempted before. Yet it was rendered with at least as much feeling and as good technique as the programs of the recent annual concerts. The concert was attended by a very large audience, including such eminent musicians as Dr. Karl Muck, Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Mr. Max Zach, Conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; and Mr. Chalmers Clifton, Conductor of the Cecelia Society.

Orchestra Enthusiastically Received.

In addition the Orchestra gave several concerts during the year in and around Boston. In Worcester, early in December, the organization played before an audience of 1500, and was received with much enthusiasm and with favorable criticisms in the newspapers. Such trips as these, together with the various dances following the concerts, the Annual Banquet in March, and the occasional informal meetings have served to make the organization a source of friendship and good times.

Although the membership of the Orchestra consists of between 40 and 50 men, including most of the instruments needed for symphonic work, yet there is an urgent need for more brass and wood-wind, and it is hoped that all men in the University who play these instruments will join the Orchestra next year. The organization has in the past supplied such instruments as the bassoon, oboe, tympani, and double-bass when they are needed, and although in many cases starting with poor material on these instruments for which good players are seldom found in college, it has developed it into good material in the course of the season.

In place of the early-season concert heretofore given for Union members, the Pierian began a series of Annual Mid-year Concerts in the Music Building free to the whole University. The concert this year was attended by a very enthusiastic audience, and it is expected that this series will increase in importance every year, and that it will be a means of bringing the Orchestra into closer touch with the University