{"id":153001,"date":"2025-10-28T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=153001"},"modified":"2025-10-29T11:32:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T16:32:50","slug":"broadway-conductor-returns-to-his-roots-for-concert-master-class-at-university-of-mississippi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/broadway-conductor-returns-to-his-roots-for-concert-master-class-at-university-of-mississippi\/","title":{"rendered":"Broadway Conductor Returns to His Roots for Concert, Master Class at University of Mississippi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LOU Symphony and Opera Theatre partner with Broadway conductor for an artist-in-residence program<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by\u00a0Delany Girard<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

University of Mississippi<\/strong> alumnus and Broadway <\/strong>musical director William Waldrop<\/strong> joins the UM Opera Theatre<\/strong> and the Lafayette-Oxford-University Symphony Orchestra<\/strong> for a joint concert Monday, November 3, 2025, in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LOU Side-by-Side Concert<\/strong><\/a> is a celebration of music, mentorship and collaboration featuring Waldrop<\/a> and Tim Oliver<\/strong>, Ole Miss<\/strong> director of bands, as guest conductors. The 7:30 pm event is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading up to the concert, Waldrop will lead weekend auditions, rehearsals and workshops on campus as an artist-in-residence. Waldrop is a perfect choice to mentor students and help them gain professional skills, said Bradley Robinson, UM professor of music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“During his time here, I watched this fine young man excel as a student, solo pianist, accompanist \u2013 as I engaged him for my church choir \u2013 and, of course, as a singing actor on stage as we performed together in opera \u2013 a joy,” Robinson said. “His spectacular career comes as no surprise considering the remarkable creativity he showed at his young age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I can think of no better mentor (and role model) for our students than the talented and caring man that is William Waldrop.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selected high school students will train and perform side-by-side with the LOU Symphony Orchestra<\/a> and Opera Theatre<\/a>, developing the skills essential for professional musicianship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A celebrated figure in the Broadway world, William Waldrop brings a wealth of experience and artistry to this event. After completing his bachelor’s degree in music at Ole Miss, he earned a master’s from The Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most recently, he served as music supervisor and music director for “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” at New York City<\/strong>‘s Perelman Performing Arts Center<\/strong>, where The New York Times<\/strong><\/em> praised his “gorgeous” choral direction. Earlier, Waldrop was associate conductor for “The Phantom of the Opera,” Broadway’s longest running musical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
University of Mississippi alumnus and Broadway musical director William Waldrop will serve as a guest conductor for the LOU Side-by-Side Concert, featuring the UM Opera Theatre and the Lafayette-Oxford-University Symphony Orchestra, on Monday (Nov. 3) in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts. Submitted photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
University of Mississippi alumnus and Broadway musical director William Waldrop will serve as a guest conductor for the LOU Side-by-Side Concert, featuring the UM Opera Theatre and the Lafayette-Oxford-University Symphony Orchestra, on Monday (Nov. 3) in the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts. Submitted photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOU Symphony and Opera Theatre partner with Broadway conductor for an artist-in-residence program by\u00a0Delany Girard University of Mississippi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123462,"featured_media":153002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17687],"tags":[20461,7275,13729,26094,32940,7067,4,26567,19210,655,32939],"class_list":["post-153001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-of-mississippi","tag-broadway","tag-gertrude-c-ford-center-for-the-performing-arts","tag-johns-hopkins-university","tag-lafayette-oxford-university-symphony-orchestra","tag-lou-side-by-side-concert","tag-ole-miss","tag-oxford","tag-tim-oliver","tag-um-opera-theatre","tag-university-of-mississippi","tag-william-waldrop"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Willaim-Waldrop.jpg?fit=1448%2C1412&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153001"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153069,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153001\/revisions\/153069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}