“This weekend marks the first installment of the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra’s 50th season with Cirque de la Symphonie,” writes Bobbie Hayse in Thursday’s (10/15) Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Kentucky; subscription required). “Aerial flyers, acrobats, contortionists, dancers and jugglers will join the full orchestra on stage” to music by Bizet, Glinka, Offenbach, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, and John Williams. “Dan Griffith, executive director for the OSO, said this season is titled ‘Fiftieth: The Season You’ve Been Waiting For!’ … The 2015-16 season runs from October to April and consists of five concerts featuring classical masterpieces, the best of opera and popular music. ‘One thing that is different this year is concerts are beginning at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30 p.m.,’ says Griffith. ‘The thought process was to move the concert time up so folks could have time to go out for dinner afterward.’ … The first Owensboro symphony was organized in 1919 by George Vestal, beginning with a group of about 30 players…. By the late 1970s the orchestra boasted a total of 90 performing musicians.” Said Music Director Nicholas Palmer, “It is a landmark for an orchestra to reach the age of 50.” (Read Symphony magazine’s article on Cirque de la Symphonie and other acts performing with orchestras here.)
Posted October 16, 2015
