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In the beginning
By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene
Writer
7/16/2006
Tulsa Symphony Orchestra unveils its
inaugural season
Eleven months after the idea for a
musician-run orchestra was first
announced, the Tulsa Symphony
Orchestra will present the first
concert in its inaugural season.
The first mention of the symphony
was in December 2005, when Dr. Frank
Letcher presented to the Mayor's
Task Force on the Arts the concept
of a new professional orchestra.
The first concert by the new
orchestra will be held Nov. 3 in the
Chapman Music Hall of the Tulsa
Performing Arts Center.
The concert, titled "Getting to Know
the TSO," will feature the orchestra
conducted by Jose-Luis Novo, music
director for orchestras in
Binghamton, N.Y., and Annapolis, Md.
The four other concerts in the
orchestra's season will be led by
conductors more familiar to Tulsa
audiences: Tulsa Opera general
director Carol I. Crawford, Light
Opera Oklahoma music director James
Bagwell and former Tulsa
Philharmonic assistant conductor
Edwin Outwater, now resident
conductor of the San Francisco
Symphony.
"The season has only five concerts
because the PAC is typically booked
years in advance, so there were a
limited number of dates available,"
said Letcher, the orchestra's
president. "And we also wanted to be
sensitive to the other (performing
arts) organizations in town not to
cause any conflicts with their
schedules."
Letcher said the orchestra is
planning for other concerts during
the year that will be fund-raising
efforts, such as a proposed holiday
concert in December.
The five concerts of the regular
season can be seen as three
classical and two pops concerts,
although Letcher said the TSO is not
making any severe distinctions.
"The two concerts that could be
classified as pops might not be
immediately recognizable as such,"
he said. "And that's fine with us.
Our real purpose is to program
excellent music that will appeal to
as broad an audience as possible."
The Tulsa Symphony Orchestra's
musicians developed the programs for
the concerts -- suggesting potential
conductors and choosing from those
conductors' repertoire music to be
performed.
"In every instance, we came to a
consensus, because that is the way
we run our business," Letcher said.
The blurring of lines between
classics and pops programs is
evident in the Nov. 3 concert's
program. It will include the
Festival Overture by Shostakovich,
the Intermezzo from Mascagni's opera
"Cavalleria Rusticana," the
Symphonic Dances from "West Side
Story" by Leonard Bernstein, and the
Symphony No. 5 in C Minor by
Beethoven.
Outwater will conduct the next
concert, "Shoot for the Stars," on
Jan. 6, 2007. It will feature
excerpts from the film scores of the
multi-Academy Award winning composer
John Williams, famous for his work
in films such as "Star Wars" and
"Schindler's List," along with
Gustav Holst's evocative "The
Planets."
Jie Yuan, who earlier this year won
the top prize at Tulsa's Crescendo
Music Awards, will be the soloist
for the Jan. 27, 2007, concert,
conducted by Crawford. Yuan will
perform the Piano Concerto No. 2 by
Rachmaninoff, and the orchestra will
present Rimsky-Korsakov's
"Scheherazade" and the tone poem
"The Moldau" by Smetana.
The March 24, 2007, concert, "The
Plow that Broke the Plains," will
feature Virgil Thomson's composition
of the same name, along with suites
from the film scores of Erich
Korngold and Bernard Herrmann, and
Aaron Copland's "The Red Pony."
Bagwell will conduct this concert.
Outwater returns for the "TSO Season
Finale," May 19, 2007. The program
will include the Toccata and Fugue
in D Minor by J.S. Bach, Barber's
"Adagio for Strings," Respighi's
"Church Windows" and the Symphony
No. 5 in E Minor by Tchaikovsky.
Letcher said the orchestra is
working to offer former subscribers
of the defunct Tulsa Philharmonic
the first opportunity to purchase
tickets for the symphony's season.
Season tickets should be available
to the general public in early
August, and the orchestra is working
to sell the tickets through the
PAC's ticket office and the
www.MyTicketOffice.com Web site.
James D. Watts Jr. 581-8478
james.watts @tulsaworld.com
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