Meet the
Musicians

The musicians at the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra all have wonderful stories behind why they play. One of these musicians is Dr. Dawn Hardy.

Hardy plays the second oboe and English horn for the LSO, and has been playing with them since 2003. When she started as a junior in high school, she didn’t know that she would be the first person to play a piece in the nation for the same organization over twenty years later.

Hardy got introduced into the world of music through her mom, who was a singer and an organist. She joined elementary strings and went on to play in the middle school band. She wanted to try something that nobody else plays, and that’s when she found the oboe.

“I just had phenomenal teachers along the way, and it just sparked that love of music really early for me,” Hardy said.

Oboe was a hard instrument to get into, but she kept reminding herself that no matter how many reeds were broken, she just needed to have determination to keep practicing until she got better.

And she did get better. She went to Florida Southern College to get a bachelor’s degree in music education, a master’s degree in music performance and doctorate degree in education, with emphasis on music. She now works as a middle school band director and an adjunct professor for oboe at a couple of schools.

She was inspired from the support of her previous instructors to go into education herself. Her high school band director would encourage her to take spots at big performances, even if it meant missing a school event.

At Florida Southern, her music education and oboe professor, Dr. Jossim, would support her in making her wildest dreams come true. She even helped Hardy audition for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as an undergraduate.

Recently, she got to see one of her own oboe students playing a solo for The Planets Live in March. Even though she didn’t play on the piece, it was enriching just to sit back and listen from the other end.

“It was really special to get to see him in that capacity. As a senior, he’s worked really hard,” Hardy said.

While she has had many rewarding experiences playing for the LSO, she believes the Love Connections concert in May will be her favorite by far. In the concert dedicated to Julia, one of her students who passed away recently, she will be soloing on an English horn concerto.

“I get to present a piece to the audience that they’ve never heard. It’s never been played in the United States, it was just recently discovered a couple years ago,” Hard said about Concerto for English Horn by Giuseppe Ferlendis.

Hardy reached out to Marino Bedetti, the Italian soloist for the only recording of Concerto for English Horn that she could find online. She reached out to find more information about the piece and discovered it had never been played in the United States before.

Bedetti was the one that found this piece at a library in Ostiglia, a commune in Italy. The piece didn’t have Ferlendis’ signature, but after observing the markings, they attributed it to him because they felt that it was his piece.

“That was just a couple of years ago, so I asked a couple people in the United States who know all the performances, and there has not been another orchestral performance of this piece in the United States,” Hardy said. “That’s pretty rewarding as a musician.”

She believes this concert will be her favorite because not many musicians get the chance to present a recently discovered piece of music from 1755 to an audience.

“Julia’s parents will be in the audience, so that is definitely going to be a special moment for them because they know that piece is dedicated to their daughter,” Hardy said.

Even for a concert like this one, Hardy found out how to control her nerves over the years when it comes to performing.

“One of the biggest things that I’ve learned over the years is that if I’ve practiced it enough, I’m pretty calm,” Hardy said. “I noticed I’m most nervous when I don’t feel like I practiced enough.”

One of the best pieces of advice another musician gave to her is to not be afraid to fail. She knows that no matter how many auditions she doesn’t get called back for, that she will get better the more she practices.

Because she has an understanding that failure is inevitable sometimes, it makes overcoming obstacles mid-performance significantly easier.

“In the moment, you just have to let it roll off. Because if you don’t, and you keep thinking, ‘I missed that F sharp,’ then you’re going to mess other stuff up,” Hardy said. “The more prepared you are, the less often it’s gonna happen, or you can cover it up if something does happen.”

Outside of the music industry, Hardy became a Girl Scouts leader for her eldest daughter. Although time consuming and sometimes frustrating, she finds it rewarding to see how the girls work together to come up with meaningful impacts on the community. She also enjoys baking desserts and trying new recipes as an outlet when life gets hectic.

Since she recently finished her doctorate program, she is looking forward to making the transition into teaching higher education. She immerses herself in every opportunity she has to play and teach and is excited to continue to do so in the future.

Musician feature written by Kailynn Bannon, LSO Intern

A native of Argentina, Alvaro Pereiro started his musical studies at the age of nine. His violin instructors include Symsia Bajour in Argentina; Prof. Julia Bushkova at the University of North Texas, Dr. Lin He in Louisiana State University and has also been coached by Vladimir Tsypin from the New York Philharmonic. He has performed for violin and chamber music masterclasses with accomplished violinists such as Pinchas Zukerman and Giora Schmidt.

He has been the recipient of multiple academic excellence scholarships, including the Dr and Mrs. Horace Brock Merit Scholarship, Dr. and Mrs. William W. Winspear Merit Scholarship, LSU Undergraduate Tuition Waiver Award, Louisiana Music Award, and a United Nations National Cultural
Award. Alvaro obtained his Bachelor’s in Violin Performance, magna cum laude, and Master’s degrees with honors from Louisiana State University.

He has collaborated with some of the following world-renowned artists such as Shlomo Mintz, Renée Fleming, Cho-Liang Lin, Sarah Brightman, Johnny Mathis, Natalie Cole, Audra McDonald, Lang Lang, Dave Brubeck Quartet and Marie Osmond, among others. Along with members of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, he recorded the soundtrack for the film “A Madea Christmas”, directed by Tyler Perry. His Broadway experience as a violinist includes Ragtime the Musical at SUNY-Sullivan in New York; Sweeney Todd and Bridges of Madison County with Lakeland Community Theatre.

Featured on several occasions as a soloist, he has been a member of the following professional orchestras: Buenos Aires Philharmonic (based on Colón Theatre, currently one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world), Buenos Aires Lyrica, La Ribera Tango Ensemble, San Isidro Opera Orchestra, South Louisiana Virtuosi, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, and Venice Symphony. In 2016, he joined Lakeland (formerly Imperial) Symphony Orchestra and has been appointed its Concertmaster in 2023.