On May 2, over 200 musicians and vocalists will cram themselves into the wings and onto the stage in Spingold to perform Beethoven's ninth and final symphony. The most celebrated piece of classical music, which peaks with the exalted vocal piece "Ode to Joy," will serve as a celebration and culmination of the second season of performances by the Brandeis-Wellesly orchestra.Conductor Neal Hampton (MUS) created the Brandeis-Wellesely orchestra two years ago as a means to combine his passion. As a professor here for 10 years, Hampton was familiar with the talent of his students. Then, five years ago, he started teaching music at Wellesely as well and after three years came up with the idea of combining the talents of his two symphony orchestras into one super-orchestra. Integrating both sets of students, as well as faculty, staff and surrounding community members, Hampton's Brandeis-Wellesely orchestra has garnered much acclaim for their incredible performances.
At the beginning of the 2003-2004 season, Hampton decided that he wanted to tackle Beethoven's ninth symphony. Knowing that the piece demands both strong musicians and an exceptional choir, he contacted all the schools in the Boston area, asking them if they wanted to sing in the performance. Now, in addition to the Brandeis and Wellesly choruses, choirs from MIT and UMass-Dartmouth will be joining the Brandeis-Wellesely orchestra on stage.

Hampton is especially excited because of the message he sees in the symphony.

"It's about all manking becoming brothers," he said. "It's all about hope and togetherness."

This massive undertaking is the biggest that Hampton, or anyone else in the music department, has ever attempted. In fact, the performance is so large that it couldn't even be held in the Slosberg Recital Hall, as the rest of the orchestra's performances have. Instead, the choruses and orchestra will cram themselves onto the stage in Spingold as best they can. Special risers are being built to accomdate 80 of the chorus members; the rest will wait in the wings until the orchestra performance is over and then walk on to fill any extra spaces on stage as "Ode To Joy" begins. When asked how they will all fit on stage, Hampton good-naturedly replied, "with a shoehorn.