Event
Music for Sustainable Change | Live String Quartet & 360° Visuals
Enjoy an immersive performance and talk-back session exploring the impacts of climate change on Columbia.
Event Date
Wed., April 23 | 6 - 7 p.m.
This special evening, organized by USC’s School of Music, features a live musical performance inside the BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Planetarium.
Music for Sustainable Change will feature an immersive performance from four string players studying at the University of South Carolina, as well as a talk-back session exploring the impacts of climate change.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Music for Sustainable Change incorporates music written for string quartet with 360-degree visuals depicting different scenes around the city of Columbia, exploring the impact of climate change in our day-to-day lives.
Following the performance, guests can participate in a talk-back session to discuss sustainability efforts and learn practical ways to reduce your carbon footprint.
Featured performers are four string players studying at the University of South Carolina School of Music: senior violinist and Music for Sustainable Change director Julia Jacobsen, senior violinist Aidan Billings, doctoral violist Douglas Temples, and doctoral cellist Hillary Flowers. All are familiar faces in orchestras across South Carolina, with significant performance engagements outside of their studies.
The music includes compositions by Olivier Messiaen, Philip Glass, and Antonín Dvořák, specially curated to correspond with imagery projected onto the planetarium dome.
TICKETS
This event is FREE for USC Students
About Julia Jacobsen
Julia Jacobsen is an emerging professional violinist based in Columbia, South Carolina, with a passion for diversity, equity, accessibility, and sustainability in the arts. She currently serves as the Principal Second Violin of the Spartanburg Philharmonic and Section Violin in the Aiken Symphony, while also frequently performing with the Greenville Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, and Long Bay Symphony. This May, she will complete her undergraduate studies in violin performance and marketing at the University of South Carolina, where she is training under Dr. Ari Streisfeld and pursuing concentrations in music entrepreneurship and sustainability in business.
About Aidan Billings
Aidan Billings is a fifth-year senior studying violin performance and mechanical engineering at the University of South Carolina. He has held many leadership roles in the USC Symphony over the years, including Concertmaster and Principal Second Violin. He was also previously Concertmaster of the USC Opera Orchestra and has played professionally with the Aiken Symphony, Long Bay Symphony, North Charleston Pops Orchestra, and others. Aidan hopes to get his PhD in engineering and eventually become a professor.
About Hillary Flowers
Hillary Flowers is currently pursuing her DMA in cello performance at the University of South Carolina where she is a member of the Collective; a mixed quintet dedicated to developing skills as artist-citizens through community and audience engagement. She is the cello instructor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and enjoys working with bright young cellists in her hometown of Wilmington, NC, continuing to develop her teaching studio there. Hillary is busy performing in symphony orchestras throughout NC and SC and in her free time, she loves to go surfing every chance she gets.
About Douglas Temples
Douglas Temples is a violist and educator currently pursuing a DMA at the University of South Carolina. He has performed across the U.S. and abroad. Season highlights include performances in New York, Chicago, and Paris. An experienced orchestral musician, Douglas is a member of the Aiken Symphony, Augusta Symphony, and South Carolina Philharmonic. He also maintains a private viola studio in Columbia, South Carolina. When not playing the viola, he can be found with his nose in a book, in the kitchen, or on a long walk with his beagle Tucker.
Event Partner
