Orchestrating “Awe and Wonder”

January 2025

Before graduating with a commercial music degree, Alana Portzline needed one final capstone experience—to record a full orchestra playing her original composition. But doing so would require some travel.

“There really isn’t anywhere in Utah where you can record a full orchestra,” she says. “And the orchestras in Los Angeles are extremely expensive and not avail[1]able to just anyone.”

Portzline traveled to Budapest, Hungary, to record her piece, entitled “Awe and Wonder.” “Attending a recording session of my own original composition was one of the most formative experiences of my life,” she says. “I was so moved the first time I heard the recording that I began tearing up.”

After leaving Hungary, Portzline traveled first to Ireland to participate in a traditional Irish orchestral music festival and then to London to make connections in the music industry. “As my first international experience, this study abroad was incredibly meaningful,” she says. “It changed my understanding of the international music community and revealed to me the abundant possibilities for the future.”