The musical trip will begin with music you would hear at the Metropolitan Opera House or Symphony Hall, said Joseph Lee, guest conductor for the evening.

The musical trip will begin with music you would hear at the Metropolitan Opera House or Symphony Hall, said Joseph Lee, guest conductor for the evening. After intermission, listeners will go to Broadway.

“From Lincoln Center to Broadway: From Classical Styles to Broadway Hits” is Thursday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church on Thompson Lane.

“This selection is going to be fabulous,” said Birdie Ann Donnell, symphony board president, adding that the selection of performers and music is fantastic.

MTSU vocal performance professors Stephen Smith and Dina Cancryn will perform with the symphony, singing some of the best-loved arias from operatic repertoire, and some of the most popular Broadway tunes.

“People who didn’t know they loved opera will love opera after that concert,” Lee, resident conductor of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, said.

Broadway hits will come from such shows as Jekyll and Hyde, Chess, Phantom of the Opera, My Fair Lady, Chicago and West Side Story.

“This concert will really have something for everybody,” Lee, a graduate of Vanderbilt University, said.

The 2010-11 symphony season will consist of five performances, each containing an element that is special to the concert, Donnell said.

“The program was hand-picked to be suitable to our audience,” she said, adding the symphony will be seeking patron feedback following the concerts.

Conductors and musicians with ties to Middle Tennessee will be featured in each performance in the series titled “Our Very Own.”

“We have in this Middle Tennessee area so many really good professional musicians that it is a shame we can’t feature them all of the time,” Donnell said. “They are so good.”

The concert season continues Oct. 21 with “An Evening with Nicholas Zumbro.” Zumbro is a Murfreesboro native and internationally renowned classical pianist. He will perform with a small orchestral accompaniment.

“A Fireside Christmas,” conducted by Joseph Hermann, set for Dec. 9, will consist of a reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas and a soprano singing “Ava Maria” and “O Holy Night.” Hermann is the director of bands at Tennessee Tech University.

The next performance is “An Evening with Andrew Risinger” set for Feb. 18. Risinger is the resident organist for the Nashville Symphony. He will perform alone and with accompaniment from the horn section.

The season concludes with “American Landscapes,” conducted by Kelly Corcoran. Corcoran is the assistant conductor of the Nashville Symphony. The concert looks into the American influence of classical and popular music.

The Murfreesboro Symphony is continuing its search for a new conductor and musical director. The symphony hopes to have a new conductor in time for the 2012-13 season.

“We want to find a conductor that will play what the Middle Tennessee area wants to hear,” Donnell said. “We have a very sophisticated audience. We would like to have someone interested in that and will play what the audience wants to hear.”

Concert tickets are $40. A discount is being given to students and educators. Students are $5 and educators are $20. Discounted tickets are available at the door or through the symphony office at 201 E. Main St., Suite 106.

General tickets are available at www.murfreesborosymphony.com or by calling 898-1862.