UMass Boston’s orchestra will perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question” at the Recital Hall in University Hall Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m.
The orchestra is conducted by visiting Assistant Professor Ryan Noe this semester, who started as an associate lecturer in music education at the university back in 2021. Though Noe himself is a professional trumpeter with the Glen Falls Symphony Orchestra, this semester is his first time conducting the university’s orchestra, which he will stick with in the spring. As a working musician in different contexts, he’s used to performing with musicians he hasn’t worked with before and was instead more concerned about the orchestra getting used to him.
“It was about building their trust in me rather than the other way around,” he said.
Principal cellist Joelle Dela Cruz has played for the orchestra for three years. She considers Beethoven’s symphonies familiar territory, having played other symphonies of his with the orchestra in the past. Charles Ives, an early 20th-century modern American composer, was entirely different. She explained that experiencing “The Unanswered Question” as a listener is very different from experiencing it as a performer. According to Dela Cruz, the strings were initially underwhelmed with a part that seemed almost simplistic, but she came to appreciate the piece as a whole as rehearsals with Noe went on.
“He’s getting us to listen to each other more so we know exactly what’s going on,” she said.
“The Unanswered Question” was chosen in part to feature Karl Stanley, a trumpeter graduating this winter. Noe doesn’t expect the audience to be familiar with the piece, or even with Charles Ives, who he says was not appreciated and sometimes criticized during his lifetime for writing pieces that were challenging to listen to. He considers the piece’s structure to be a kind of story. The question of the piece’s title is posed by a brief, repeated trumpet solo and answered in five or six different ways by the woodwinds. These “answers” aren’t necessarily satisfactory — hence the repetition and the piece’s title.
Up until now, Noe’s work as a conductor has largely been with bands rather than orchestras, though as a trumpeter he’s mostly worked with orchestras. Noe is passionate about enabling the teaching careers of students who want to be music educators themselves. He spoke admiringly of Recital Hall, where the orchestra rehearses, comparing it favorably to venues he’s worked in before.
He’s planning on using repertoire exclusively from American composers as a way of celebrating the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding next year. According to both Dela Cruz and Noe, the orchestra is well positioned for their concert.
“The orchestra is in a really solid spot to give a great performance on Friday,” Noe said.
A version of this article appears in print on Page 5 of Vol. LX, No. 6, published Nov. 24, 2025.
