Kilts are optional as the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra (PCO) features Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony during its concert at the State Theatre Sunday afternoon.

The 36-piece orchestra will perform Glinka's Prince Kholmsky Overture and Drushetzky's Concerto for Oboe and Timpani, as well as Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony. The concerto will feature Timothy Hurtz and Daniel Armstrong as soloists.

It features eight timpani, instead of the usual four. This allows Armstrong a fuller range of pitches, Douglas Meyer, conductor and music director of the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra (PCO), said.

"In many places it turns out to be a duet between the oboe and the timpani," he said, "much in the tradition of a double concerto."

Hurtz, Penn State professor and featured oboe, said the piece is interesting because of the period in which it was written.

"It's an intriguing piece because it's [from the classical period]. You don't usually associate a piece from that period for eight timpani," Hurtz said.

Hurtz said the concerto features the oboe and timpani both together as a duet and separately, each with their own cadenza -- or a somewhat improvised scale.

"The cadenzas are totally made up by the performers," he said, adding that Armstrong, the featured timpani, is planning on adding a familiar "surprise" tune into his improvised section.

The evening though, is themed around Felix Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony.

"The Mendelssohn symphony is very difficult. It has a lot of melodies that fly by very quickly," Hurtz said. "He must have been a very nervous fellow who drank a lot of coffee."

The Scottish Symphony evokes feelings of Scotland and sounds reminiscent to folk songs from that country, Meyer said.

This will be the second concert the ensemble has performed since the State Theatre opened Dec. 15. Meyer said there was a great response to the first concert at the State Theatre from its listeners.

"The audience thought it sounded super," he said. "It's very comfortable in [the State Theatre]. It's a perfect size for this size orchestra."