The Penn State Philharmonic Orchestra will take the stage at 8 Saturday night to fill the Eisenhower Auditorium air with the classical sounds of Alberto Ginastera, Richard Wagner and Sergei Prokofiev.

"It will be very relaxed and open," said maestro Gerardo F. Edelstein. "Everyone is invited. People won't need a background in classical music to appreciate the event."

For the 70-member all-student orchestra, conducted by Edelstein, Saturday will be its first concert of the year. The philharmonic generally tours throughout the eastern United States. In the past, the orchestra has played in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and as far south as Baltimore.

The orchestra is composed entirely of students, but Edelstein said no one needs to worry about quality.

"I love the students here," Edelstein said. "The talent level here is as good as any professional orchestra. If anything, I prefer conducting here because we have more opportunity to practice together."

Edelstein has presided over a dozen different orchestras on four different continents.

"If you don't come for the music, come to see Mr. Edelstein," said Christina Palermo (junior-music education).

"He's very talented and energetic."

The show will begin with a selection from the Ginastera Ballet La Estancia.

"It is the story of a country girl who falls in love with a city boy after he finally learns her rural ways," Edelstein said.

The show will then move on with the prelude to Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, which Edelstein compared to Romeo and Juliet because of its somber mood.

"It's a story of love and death," said assistant conductor Christian Baldini (graduate-conducting).

"The Wagner piece is about the renunciation of life for love. It's very powerful."

Palermo said Tristan and Isolde was "cool."

"The harmony never resolves," she said.

Prokofiev's "Symphony #5" should round out the evening's two-hour show.

"There is a heavy percussive feel to the whole show," Sam Foulger (junior-music education) said.

Edelstein said the show would be filled with varying instrumentation and a wide range of drums.

"The music should appeal to a very wide base of listeners," he said.