Adrian College student to perform with Southern Adventist University Symphony Orchestra
Posted Friday, December 19, 2025
Author: Mickey Alvarado
Adrian College’s Division of Performing Arts recently had junior Drew Price selected as one of seven winners to perform with the Southern Adventist University Symphony Orchestra in Collegedale, Tennessee, on Feb. 1, 2026.
Price majors in music education and is a member of Adrian College’s marching band, jazz band, orchestra and percussion ensemble. He has taken applied percussion lessons with Adrian College’s new band director, Dan Kesterke, for more than 10 years. Kesterke was also his instructor at Adrian Public Schools and Siena Heights University.
“I was originally a student at Siena because of him, so I followed him here,” Price said of how he came to be a student at Adrian College.
This will be Price’s first concerto movement performance with a symphony orchestra.
“We are really proud of him,” Kesterke said. “It is not an easy thing to put yourself out there in a competition like that. He really deserves a lot of credit for the many hours of practice it took to earn this honor.”
Price was born in Quincy, Illinois, but grew up in Adrian starting at age 8. He said he has always been involved in music and performance because he loves it. Both of his parents and all of his siblings play instruments. He chose music education as a major so he can share what he has learned.
“I’d like to give back and educate a new generation of musicians,” he said.
Price is a percussionist and plays a variety of instruments including the marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, bells, cymbals and drums, among others.
The Southern Adventist University Concerto Competition features gifted young musicians performing with a full orchestra. Instrumentalists from grade eight through the undergraduate level were invited to compete for the opportunity to perform a concerto movement.
Price submitted a video audition of his marimba concerto movement and was selected as one of 16 finalists to play in front of four judges at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee, on Nov. 30.
For his debut with a symphony orchestra in February, Price will perform the first movement of Ney Rosauro’s “Concerto No. 1 for Marimba and Orchestra” in the Collegedale Church of Seventh-day Adventists.
Price said he has not actively sought sponsors to cover the out-of-pocket expenses for the three-day trip but would welcome support if it were offered.
He said he is grateful to Adrian College for giving him the space to prepare for an opportunity like this.
“I’m happy to be here at Adrian College, continuing to do what I love,” Price said.
For more information about Adrian College’s Division of Performing Arts, visit adrian.edu or email Kesterke at dkesterke@adrian.edu.
