For the first concert of its 75th anniversary season, the Greenville Symphony Orchestra will be honoring its past, while looking to the future.

Saturday's program will feature Franz Schubert's "Marche Militaire," which the orchestra performed at its first concert in 1929 and a newly commissioned piece that has never been performed before.

Spotlighted players will include a 69-year-old pianist taking his seventh solo turn with the orchestra, and the 29-year-old cellist who wrote the premiere piece.

Orchestras frequently commission pieces for anniversary seasons, and the Greenville Symphony Society followed along, said Music Director and Conductor Michael Gelfand.

When the society suggested a piece by one of its own, Jason Howard, Gelfand was quick to agree. He had Howard, of Steubenville, Ohio, as a cello student and knew of his student works.

Howard, who has written for chamber orchestras, string quartets, vocalists and small ensembles, said he started from scratch when he got the commission. Drawing inspiration from mountains, flowers and the personality of his girlfriend, Kay Plinka of Steubenville, he drafted the 4è-minute "Shorts No. 1: Fanfares & Waltzes."