2 IU alumni return to IU for free concert

For their March 2 performance at the Musical and Arts Center, the renowned Indy-based orchestra will feature some of IU’s finest. \nAnthony Kniffen and Ju-Fang Liu will join the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for its third annual free concert at IU, said Tim Northcutt, media relations director for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. \nIU alumnus Kniffen began his tuba career in January 1986. For Kniffen, no other instruments even compared.\n“I really love the sound of the tuba,” he said. \nHe most enjoys playing the seventh symphony of Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. \n“It’s the greatest piece ever written,” Kniffen said. \nKniffen’s wife Amy, who plays the viola, is also an orchestra member.\nFellow IU alumna Liu began playing contrabass at age 10 while living in Taiwan. Her first instrument of choice was the viola, but being the tallest girl in the orchestra, her director convinced her to play bass. However, playing a viola or a piccolo is still in her dreams, Liu said.\nRecently, Liu has begun to play the electric bass in hopes of performing in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s Yuletide concert every December.\nBoth IU alumni still consider their professors at IU to be their strongest musical influences. \nBut Kniffen and Liu are still receiving instruction a decade or so after graduating from IU. Mario Venzago is the director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.\n“Venzago is best described as a comedian and a taskmaster,” Kniffen said. \nLiu, too, only had positive things to say about her director. \n“He has the most musical mind,” Liu said. “The stuff he does, it’s like you’ve never even heard it.”