The DePaul Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will present a night of free classical music to the public featuring some of the most popular and challenging compositions by Tchaikovsky and Bartók when it performs on May 30 at 8 p.m. at Orchestra Hall, 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago.

Since 1986, the DePaul Symphony Orchestra’s Joseph and Marie Grant Annual Spring Concert has showcased the diverse talents of the highly gifted musicians from DePaul University’s School of Music. With its high standards of excellence, DePaul has developed a reputation for having one of the top music schools and college orchestras in the country.

The performance, to be led by conductor Cliff Colnot, will include two works by Tchaikovsky – the “Romeo and Juliet Fantasy–Overture” and the “Variations on a Rococo Theme” – and Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. Cellist Stephen Balderston will be the featured soloist in Tchaikovsky’s elegant Variations; he has been a full-time member of the DePaul string faculty since the fall of 2003.

As the orchestra’s director since his appointment in 1997, Colnot has dramatically improved the quality of the orchestra’s sound, as well as its discipline. In addressing these developmental issues, Colnot says: “As the orchestra culture at DePaul continues to mature, the experience, technical ability and orchestra savvy all follow the same upward trajectory. As part of this ongoing metamorphosis, a common language has begun to characterize the sound of the orchestra.”

Perhaps no other literary work has inspired as many composers as Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” However, none of these works has surpassed the popularity of Tchaikovsky’s Fantasy–Overture, which opens the program.

Colnot calls Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra “one of the most challenging pieces written for symphony orchestra.” The seemingly paradoxical title of this celebrated masterwork, which premiered in 1944, focuses not on one solo instrument, but on the entire orchestra itself.

“Thanks to the generosity of Joseph and Marie Grant, the popular DSO Spring Concert has become an annual event, and it showcases the pivotal role that the Orchestra holds in the music school’s curriculum,” said Donald Casey, dean of the DePaul School of Music. “This year we are espcially grateful that the Grant children, Michael Grant and Adrienne Rosen, are continuing their parents’ musical legacy by provided additional gifts in support of this concert.”

Although the concert is free, tickets are required and can be reserved online at http://music.depaul.edu or by calling 773/325-7260. Tickets booked through Orchestra Hall directly are subject to a service charge.