Colorful, flashing lights and epic guitar solos aren’t really what you’d expect to hear in a concert hall, but students at the Frost School of Music are no strangers to mixing genres. After all, they’re the ones making it happen.
Rock Symphonic is a student-run concert that combines talent from across Frost’s three departments: classical, contemporary and jazz. Five Frost artists are selected to play their songs live in Gusman Hall backed by a full symphony orchestra.
Last week’s performance marked the third time the Rock Symphonic Orchestra took the stage.
Brought to life by Frost students Winston Thayer and Dawson Fuss in the Spring 2024 semester, the project has far exceeded its creators’ expectations. Thayer is a senior and Fuss graduated in 2025 with a Bachelor of Music in Modern Artist Development and Entrepreneurship.
Thayer and Fuss were inspired by R&B artist Raye’s 2023 concert in the Royal Albert Hall in London with the Heritage Orchestra. Given Frost’s musically diverse student body, the two had no doubt they could pull off something similar at UM.
They originally wanted to have the concert in Victor E. Clarke Recital Hall, a 147-seat venue intended for intimate performances. The artists would’ve been accompanied by a small orchestra, with only one or two people per instrument.
That all changed after Fuss pitched the concert to Dean Shelly Berg after running into him at Frost’s special screening of “Mean Girls” in 2024. The dean loved their idea so much that he gave Thayer and Fuss permission to use the 600-seat Maurice Gusman Concert Hall instead.
With full faculty approval and a much larger space than they originally anticipated, the whole thing went from zero to 60 . “We were like, well, I guess we have to start getting together an orchestra to fill the hall,” said Thayer.
Rock Symphonic’s first year was easily its most chaotic. Thayer and Fuss initially split the work evenly as co-directors. Thayer took on the responsibilities of composing the arrangements of the artists’ songs and dealing with the orchestra and Fuss managed the artists and marketing.
Thayer quickly realized there was no way one person could compose 17 arrangements, so he brought in Jennifer Phan, also a senior at Frost. Together, the two developed a standardized system to keep the parts in order: making templates for the sheet music, booklets for each orchestral musician and numbering each song.
Featuring then-Frost students Brayton, Nep and Fuss himself, RS 2024 was a roaring success. Pulling it off was a lot of work, and the executive team was spread thin.
In its next year, Rock Symphonic became far more organized. Thayer and Fuss remained as co-directors, with Phan assistant directing. The three developed a formal application process for the artists, choosing bands based on feedback from faculty across Frost’s three departments.
Thayer and Phan also expanded the composing team, bringing in student composers from the Media Scoring and Production program.
The event’s second year also saw the expansion of its musical scope; it wasn’t only rock music anymore. The lineup included singer-songwriter Maeve, indie band rug, funk/soul/R&B band Puddley, girl rock band Skyrise and the indefinable Che AM.
This year Rock Symphonic came back stronger than ever. It was co-directed by Thayer, Phan and junior Mallory Gravitt, who will be taking over next year. Juniors Quinn Olson and Annakeesta Ironwood were assistant directors.
Singer-songwriter Nicole Emelie was one of this year’s artists. She has never performed with a symphony orchestra before, and after just the first rehearsal, she was amazed.
“I just felt so happy,” Emelie said. “I had a moment when I was listening to it that I was like, these are songs that I just wrote by myself in my bedroom, and now an orchestra is playing them.”
The 2026 concert also featured indie rock band Lawn, jazz singer-songwriter Lena Joy, newgrass band The Wire Jays and indie jazz rock band Nuclear Monkey.
“I think this should happen more often,” Emelie said. “The fact that this is student led and student created is very important. I think it shows that the students want this community and this connection.”
It is typical for the co-directors to engage with the audience throughout the show, introducing themselves, the artists and the orchestral musicians. This year was a little different, though.
Phan and Thayer delivered an extended and heartfelt thank-you to everyone who has made Rock Symphonic possible for the past three years. From the arrangers to the artists to the marketing team to the light and sound crew in the hall to the faculty mentors, no person involved left without a staggering round of applause.
Bending the traditions of orchestral etiquette, conductor Walker Klauda even had every individual section of the orchestra stand to receive their applause.
The concert ended with an epic instrumental medley of songs from each year of Rock Symphonic as a send off to its creators.
A live album with the songs from last week’s performance will be released sometime this summer.
Preparations for next year’s concert will begin in the Fall 2026 semester, and the incoming director has lots of ideas. One of the most important is to expand the team even more. Even as it has grown, the workload remains heavy.
“Being friends with Jen and Winston and Mallory has shown me how much work this thing is,” said assistant director Olson. “The amount of all-nighters that are pulled among that team is insane.
Born from two friends who just wanted to put on a cool show at their school, Rock Symphonic has since grown wings and soared. It is becoming a tradition among students, helping to strengthen the culture of connection, collaboration and just plain fun at Frost.