“Although six great concerts will precede it, the Topeka Symphony Orchestra’s 2016-17 season finale is the one music director Kyle Wiley Pickett said he is most looking forward to conducting,” writes Bill Blankenship in Saturday’s (7/16) Topeka Capital-Journal (Kansas). “For the first time in its 71-year existence, the Topeka Symphony will on April 29, 2017, perform Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony…. ‘This is a monumental work. It’s one of my favorite pieces, probably one of my top three pieces of all time,’ said Pickett, who is starting his fourth year at the orchestra’s helm.” Other concerts next season will include works of Gershwin, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, John Adams, Leonard Bernstein, Bach, Mozart, and Handel. For a “Baroque and Classical Treasures” concert, “Pickett will both conduct and play the flute on … Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2.” A pops concert with a space theme will include movements from The Planets, John Williams’ score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and music from Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek. “Although not part of the 2016-17 season, the Topeka Symphony Orchestra’s next concert will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 4 at the second annual Orchestra on the Oregon Trail at Alcove Springs Historic Park.”
Posted July 19, 2016
