Iowa State students and faculty will have the opportunity to perform for the university’s new leader in what is considered to be one of the Midwest’s premier music venues.

The Iowa State Singers, ISU Symphony orchestra, ISU Wind Ensemble and renowned opera singer Simon Estes will present a concert Sunday welcoming Iowa State’s fourteenth president, Gregory Geoffroy.

The concert will also show appreciation for Iowa State’s faculty and alumni.

The concert will be performed at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Minneapolis Orchestra Hall.

This concert has been in the works since last winter, shortly after the announcement that Geoffroy would become the next president of Iowa State.

Geoffroy said he is honored that a concert of this magnitude is scheduled to welcome him to Iowa State.

Rather than schedule a concert this large in Ames, the planning committee decided to have it somewhere other than the Iowa State Center.

In addition, Minneapolis is home to about 7,000 ISU alumni, and also to one of the most prestigious music venues in the area, making it a great choice for this event, said Jim Rodde, director of the Iowa State Singers and professor of music.

“That’s a very unique and visible hall,” he said. “This will be the only time many of our students will be able to perform in a place like that.”

Some of the pieces the ISU Symphony Orchestra will perform include Copland’s “Billy the Kid Suite” and “Die Frist ist um” from Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman.”

Simon Estes, distinguished artist-in-residence for the Music Department, recommended the Wagner piece.

Mark Laycock, director of the ISU Symphony Orchestra and assistant professor of music, said he is particularly looking forward to doing this piece.

“I’ve wanted to do it for a long time,” he said. “I felt it would be a wonderful choice for the musicians in this orchestra.”

He is also looking forward to being able to perform with Estes.

“Any opportunity we have to perform with him is always a magnificent experience,” Laycock said.

Rodde is also looking forward to the event.

“We’ve worked on our music for months,” he said. “Being able to sing some of them in this beautiful setting is special.”

The Iowa State Singers will be performing “Pater Noster,” Jacobus Gallus; “Crucifixus,” Antonio Lotti; “Cantus Glorius,” Josef Swider; “Ave Maris Stella,” Edward Grieg; “Soir D’ ete,” Henk Badings; and others.

The ISU Wind Ensemble is scheduled to play “American Honor,” Bruch Broughton; “October,” Eric Whitacre; “Come dal ciel precipita” from Verdi’s “Macbeth”; and others.

For the finale, all three ensembles, Estes and the audience will combine for “The Bells of Iowa State.”

A reception will be offered before the concert at 1:30 p.m. It will feature speeches by Geoffroy, LAS Dean Peter W. Rabideau and Jeff Johnson, president of the Alumni Association.

Tickets are available and can be purchased through the ISU Music Department or the Orchestra Hall box office.