Stepping on stage, her purple dress sweeping the floor around her, nerves were the last thing on Jennifer Antkowiak’s mind. Instead, she looked to her left: Richard Rossi, her conductor, stood there, poised and ready. She looked to her right: her mentor Rebecca Johnson, a music professor, waited. And behind her: the full weight of the Eastern Symphony Orchestra raised their instruments.

But it wasn’t nerves on her mind.

“On stage is where I belong,” Antkowiak said. “I never get nervous there.”

Antkowiak, a junior music major, stood side-by-side with Johnson to perform a flute duet, accompanied by the orchestra.

The song, “Fantasia Mexicana,” by Samuel Zyman highlighted both of the flutists’ skills.

Against the booming tunes of the orchestra behind them, Johnson and Antkowiak were able to cut through the robust sounds with sharp, piercing notes. As the progression went on, the orchestra – particularly the brass section – would let their sound dip into lower octaves, giving Antkowiak and Johnson room to maneuver, creating high and low pitches throughout the concert hall.

Antkowiak, a recipient of the Presidential Scholarship, said working with her instructor, Johnson, was amazing.

“Nothing compares to working with Dr. Johnson,” she said.

Rossi said in his 14 years as conductor, he never had a student and teacher perform together for an audience.

“I’ve never had them do a concerto together,” he said.

The one piece was part of a bigger concert – “Rodeo,” a tribute to American composer Aaron Copland.

The orchestra performed two dance episodes from Copland’s “Rodeo.” “Buckaroo Holiday” and “Hoe Down” both featured the entire orchestra – including Antkowiak.

With the fast-paced tunes and even quicker changes, the Western-inspired pieces swept through the Dvorak Concert Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

Though a tribute to Copland, the concert only featured his music in the final two pieces.

The orchestra also performed pieces by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in the form of “Concerto in D Minor,” broken into three parts: “Allegro,” “Un Poco Andante” and “Allegro di Molto.”

Kicking off the concert on a quick-start, “Allegro” began with a fast entrance, sweeping the audience up in a medley of back and forth between the individual string instruments, accumulating in the first flute solo by Johnson.

From there, the rest of “Concerto in D Minor” juxtaposed itself, moving from quick, high pitch notes to low, mournful pitches that echoed in the hall.

Without Johnson, Antkowiak performed another solo – this time for “Concierto Pastoral,” by Joaquin Rodrigo.

Giving the slow-building piece sharp pitches, Antkowiak performed her solo first, allowing for a warm up.

As for what happens to Antkowiak after the concert, she is going to be performing her first solo concert in April. The Eastern Symphony Orchestra will return to stage for the Multi-Cultural Concert at 7:30 p.m. April 25.

Bob Galuski can be reached at 581-2812 or dennewsdesk@gmail.com.