Traverse Symphony Orchestra Director Performs At NFL Opener

If you watched the NFL season opener between the 2015 Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday evening, perhaps you caught a glimpse of someone familiar. Traverse City's own Kevin Rhodes, music director of the Traverse Symphony Orchestra and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (SSO) in Springfield, Mass., conducted the pre-game performance at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Rhodes and 50 members of the orchestra provided the musical backdrop to the Patriots’ traditional tunnel run onto the field, with “O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. Next, the SSO switched gears – and musical genres – and performed a two-minute segment from DJ Khaled's “All I Do Is Win”, with hip-hop and R&B artist T. Pain.

"It is exciting beyond words, and an honor beyond description," says Rhodes.