South Bend, IN — The South Bend Symphony Orchestra invites audiences to experience the creative voices of our community with Celebrate Local Returns, on Sunday, March 15 at 2:30 p.m. at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center. This program honors the artistry of South Bend–based composers John Liberatore, Jorge Muñiz, and Marjorie Rusche, featuring guest pianist Clare Longendyke and South Bend Symphony Principal Flute Leslie Short.
The concert opens with Liberatore’s Piano Concerto, a piece that reflects the composer’s unique blend of instrumental color, textural clarity, and expressive depth, brought to life by Clare Longendyke.
Next, Principal Flute Leslie Short takes center stage in Muñiz’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, a composition expressing emotional resonance, exemplifying Muñiz’s rich legacy as a composer whose music has been performed across Europe, Asia, and the United States.
The program concludes with Rusche’s Eclipse, featuring Clare Longendyke on piano once again. Rusche’s music, combining romantic, modernist, and vernacular influences, promises a compelling and dynamic finale to this celebration of contemporary local voices.
The South Bend Symphony Orchestra is grateful to its Season Sponsor Jack M. Champaigne for his support for the June H. Edwards Mosaic Series.
TICKETS
Online – www.southbendsymphony.org
Phone – Morris Performing Arts Center Box Office 574-235-9190
(10 am – 4 pm, Tuesday & Wednesday, 10 – 5:30 p.m., Thursday & Friday)
In-person – Visit the Morris Box Office (211 N. Michigan St., South Bend) during the times listed above or two hours before any performance or stop by the Symphony Office (127 N. Michigan St., South Bend) between (10 am – 4 pm, Tuesday – Friday).
To VIEW the 2025-26 Season schedule, visit www.southbendsymphony.org
Dates, programs, and venues are subject to change.
For questions or media appearances, please contact Sarah Perschbacher, sperschbacher@southbendsymphony.org or 574-230-4875
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About the South Bend Symphony Orchestra
The South Bend Symphony inspires, entertains, and connects the community with the transformative power of orchestral music. Producing more than 20 mainstage programs each year and 70 smaller ensemble concerts, the Symphony serves more than 30,000 attendees annually. As the region’s only professional orchestra, the Symphony is dedicated to cultivating a vibrant, interconnected arts community in support of South Bend and the broader Michiana region.
The South Bend Symphony Orchestra has earned recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Indiana Arts Commission and local arts funding organizations. It is also the recipient of the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County’s Leighton Award for Nonprofit Excellence, which honors the best-run nonprofit organization in St. Joseph County, Indiana.
Learn more about the South Bend Symphony Orchestra at www.southbendsymphony.org.
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About Clare Longendyke, Piano
Pianist Clare Longendyke is a soloist, chamber musician, and advocate for new music, known for imaginative programming and engaging storytelling. Her performances seamlessly weave contemporary works with classical favorites, bringing fresh perspective to the concert stage.
In 2024, Clare released her debut album, …Of Dreams Unveiled, featuring music by Debussy, Amy Williams, and Anthony R. Green. The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard Traditional Classical chart and was praised as “a work of remarkable pianistic invention” (The WholeNote) and “delightfully daring” (EarRelevant).
A dedicated collaborator with living composers, Clare has commissioned more than 30 new works and premiered over 250 pieces. Highlights of her 2025/26 season include appearances with Symphony New Hampshire, the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, and the Atlanta Contemporary Music Collective. She holds degrees from Boston University and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.
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About Leslie Short, Flute
Leslie Short is a native of Virginia Beach, Virginia where she grew up attending Virginia Symphony concerts with her parents. After hearing her teacher, Debra Cross, perform Afternoon of a Faun she made it her goal to become an orchestral musician. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory as a student of Michel Debost and a Master of Music degree from Mannes School of Music in New York City where she studied with Judith Mendenhall and Nadine Asin.
In 1996, she was named Principal Flute of the South Bend Symphony. Some of the highlights of her Symphony career have been four solo appearances with the orchestra, performing all nine Beethoven symphonies with Maestro Willis and playing the National Anthem during the Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium. As principal flute she is a member of the Symphony’s woodwind quintet and has performed hundreds of community concerts in the Michiana area. She has also served the Symphony in many capacities including being a member of the board, serving on various search committees and representing the musicians in three contract negotiations.
Leslie is an active freelance musician in the Chicago area and has performed with many of the area’s regional orchestras including, Chicago Sinfonietta, Northwest Indiana Symphony, and The New Philharmonic. She has been teaching private flute lessons throughout her professional career, teaching at various high schools in her area as well as at home.
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About John Liberatore
Composer John Liberatore writes music that balances clarity and complexity, levity and poignancy, creating a sense of forward motion through transparent textures and vivid instrumental color. His distinctive voice draws on a wide range of influences and has been described as “pulled along at varying speeds in multiple directions, but always forward” (Cleveland Classical). In addition to composing, Liberatore performs as a pianist, narrator, and one of the world’s few glass harmonica players.
Liberatore’s music has been performed widely around the world, and he has received fellowships from MacDowell, Tanglewood, Yaddo, the Brush Creek Arts Foundation, I-Park, and the Millay Colony, along with commissions from the Fromm Music Foundation and the American Opera Initiative, two ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, and the Brian Israel Prize. His work has been released on Albany, New Focus, Centaur, Innova, and Ravello Records, including the portrait albums of Line Drawings and Catch Somewhere.
Liberatore holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Syracuse University and is Associate Professor of Composition and Theory at the University of Notre Dame.
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About Jorge Muñiz
Jorge Muñiz’s music has been performed internationally in Europe, Asia, Australia, and the United States by ensembles including the Strasbourg Philharmonic, Seville Symphony, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. His works range from orchestral and choral pieces to opera and chamber music.
Notable premieres include Requiem for the Innocent with the SBSO, acclaimed as “a magnificent oratorio” (South Bend Tribune), the three-act opera Fuenteovejuna for Opera Oviedo, Motown Dreams for saxophone and orchestra, and his Solidarity Symphony with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. His recordings include Portraits from the Heartland and Origins.
Muñiz holds a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University and a doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music. He is Chancellor’s Professor of Music, Composition and Theory, at Indiana University South Bend.
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About Marjorie M. Rusche
Marjorie M. Rusche is an award-winning composer whose work blends romantic, modernist, and vernacular influences. She writes for opera, music theater, orchestra, chorus, dance, and chamber ensembles. Notable works include Our American Odyssey (2023), The Gamboling Girl (SBSO, 2022), and Dreams and Visions (Searching the Shadows), performed widely in the U.S. and abroad.
Rusche has been a guest composer with Musica Reginae Productions (NYC) and London New Music for Winds Festival, and her music has been performed internationally, from Amsterdam to Kenya. Her compositions receive support from the Indiana Arts Commission and other organizations.
She holds a Doctor of Music in Composition from Indiana University Bloomington and a Master of Arts from the University of Minnesota. Rusche has taught composition, theory, and piano at Indiana University South Bend, University of Notre Dame, St. Mary’s College, and Columbia College Chicago, and served in the Peace Corps teaching music in Kenya.