As the lights of Bovard Auditorium dimmed, gorgeous sounds of strings, winds, brass and a variety of percussion instruments filled the venue. The chaos of having over 100 student musicians fell into place. USC’s Student Symphony Orchestra performed its fall concert, “Pictures Around the World,” on Sunday night.

The evening’s programming wove together old and new pieces. George Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture” set the tone to be contemporary and energetic, followed by Robin Haigh’s “SLEEPTALKER.” That momentum swept into Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s grand and romantic “Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74” before segueing into the film suite of Jurassic Park (1993), composed by John Williams.

Each song’s performance was accompanied by a short explanation of the pieces’ historical contexts, composers’ biographies and musical motifs given by music director and conductor Mithrandir Wang, as well as SSO president Celine Chen.

“[Wang] was really funny in both presenting each piece and telling a little about his life or experience with the piece, which really added a lot of personality to the show,” said Keshav Singh, an audience member and a senior majoring in economics.

Wang, a senior majoring in music composition, said he had been involved with SSO since his freshman year, first as a percussionist, then as a guest conductor with percussion, and this past weekend as a full-time conductor for the first time.

“[Conducting]’s always fun. It’s a way to put my own interpretation to the great composers I always admire and listen to, and just collaborating with performers is always fun,” Wang said. “[The musicians] are my friends, so just getting to see them every Sunday night, to work together to make music is just wonderful.”

As performing live often requires various instruments working in harmony, a concert demands similar criteria outside of performance: various moving parts coalescing together. For SSO, a student-run organization, its concerts require extensive teamwork to be successful.

“[Organizing this performance] was a lot easier than past years,” said Chen, a senior majoring in piano and flute performance. “My board was so helpful. … I can’t do this alone. They’re all such integral parts of this organization.”

The last song of the night wasn’t on the program — a surprise encore of “Mambo” from the musical “West Side Story” (1957), composed by Leonard Bernstein. The performance even featured Wang turning around and beckoning the audience to shout “Mambo!”

SSO’s Artistic Planning Committee proposes and votes on the songs to be played before each concert, including the surprise encore.

“The moment I saw it, I thought, ‘Oh, we’re definitely going to play that,’” Wang said. “That’s how the committee reacted. They all wanted to play ‘Mambo.’”

For many musicians that night, the concert was an opportunity to see their hard work pay off, their teamwork come together, and to let loose the fun and connective power of music.

“Everyone enjoys and has fun on stage,” Chen said. “I like that SSO is able to give back to so many of our members, and I think what we create together is just a very special connection. I’m just happy to help facilitate this kind of experience for all of our members.”

SSO’s concert created a high-energy, fun-loving environment open to all students, even to those who might not listen to classical music much.

“[The performance] really made me appreciate the amount of access you have as a USC student to wonderful performances put on by other students,” Singh said. “When I graduate, I’m going to be very sad to miss out on all these communities that put together events.”

Wang said he hoped the audience could take vitality from the music program.

“This night, this program is very energetic. There’s a lot of excitement, a lot of just moving energy going on,” Wang said. “I just want everyone to be excited for life and just everything that’s going to be happening in the future.”