The sounds of strings tuning fill the air in the Doudna Fine Art Center’s practice room as the Eastern Symphony Orchestra prepares for Sunday’s concert honoring composer Felix Mendelssohn’s 200th anniversary.

Orchestra members sit at attention while waiting for Richard Rossi, director of orchestral and choral activities at Eastern, to raise his arms and guide them through Mendelssohn’s world.

The concert will highlight one of the composer’s masterpieces titled “Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Opus 90,” also known as the “Italian” symphony.

According to Doudna’s press release, Mendelssohn, a German composer born in 1809, wrote his Italian symphony based on experiences he gained during a three-year tour of Europe.

“It’s an extremely difficult symphony, but there is never a dull moment,” said Rossi of Mendelssohn’s featured symphony. “It’s just really great the whole time.”

One of the movements featured in Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony No. 4 incorporates musical figurations of the “tarantella,” a traditional Italian folk dance.

The “tarantella” is characterized by the fast upbeat tempo in which a dancer would mimic the movements of a tarantula bite victim.

“The person who got bitten is supposed to dance until either they’ve sweated the poison out or died,” Rossi said. “It’s very crazy and very fast, but the whole thing is just extremely festive.”

Today, nearly 200 years later, members of the Eastern Symphony Orchestra will collaborate to celebrate the musical footprint left behind by Mendelssohn’s legacy.

Cassie Grabowski, a senior music major, looks forward to playing all four movements of the Italian symphony.

“I really like Mendelssohn because he took the classical form and he incorporated it into more of a romantic period,” Grabowski said. “I play the first violin part so I have like a thousand notes and it’s kind of hard, but it’s worth it because it sounds really cool in the end.”

Even those who claim to know nothing of classical music have most likely heard Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which has accompanied many a bride down the aisle.

As a composer, Mendelssohn’s musical genius places him among the best and most influential of all time.

“I’ve always loved Mendelssohn’s lyricism and harmonic sensitivity,” Rossi said. “It’s just very tasteful and at the same time challenging, which also allows for a creative piece of art that is educational, musical, and appealing to the masses.”

The concert will also feature a talented group of young musicians from the East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra led by director Kevin Kelly.

Under the direction of Kelly, the Eastern orchestra will join musical forces with the youth orchestra while performing “Russlan and Ludmilla Overture” by Michael Glinka.

“There is nothing more empowering or enlightening than to have students come to our concert and witness that energy coming off the stage, especially if you see your colleagues,” Rossi says.

Rory Mott, a junior biology major, plays violin and will be performing the Italian symphony along with his fellow orchestra members on Sunday.

“I really like Mendelssohn as a composer,” Mott said. “I’m just along for the ride.”

While the orchestra pays tribute to the legendary composer, audience members will be brought along for the exhilarating musical ride Mendelssohn has created in his Italian symphony.

The orchestra will honor Mendelssohn’s musical accomplishments with its performance at 4 p.m. Sunday in the Dvorak Concert Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

Student tickets are available for $5, Eastern employee and senior citizens for $10 and adult tickets for $12. Tickets for the performance can be purchased at the Doudna Fine Arts Center box office on weekdays between 11:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. and an hour before the concert.

Tickets can also be purchased online by contacting the box office at [email protected] or 581-3110.

Kristin Menas can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].