“The Fort Smith Symphony was a small community orchestra once,” writes Kim Murdock in Tuesday’s (8/8) Times Record (Arkansas and Oklahoma). “Today, it is considered a ‘large, fully professional regional orchestra,’ per the [orchestra’s] website…. The transformation is credited to John Jeter, music director and conductor for the Fort Smith Symphony for just more than 20 years, as well as [Jeter says] ‘the tremendous help and support of wonderful musicians, professional staff, board of directors and the community.’ … The addition of music education has allowed the symphony to touch about 8,000 to 10,000 students annually.” In April, “The 2017-18 symphony season marks the 200th anniversary of Fort Smith [with] Fort Smith’s own folk band, The Crumbs … featured right alongside the internationally-acclaimed Ben Miller Band. It will be a ‘mix of music you’re just not going to find anywhere else,’ Jeter said.” Also planned in 2017-18 are symphonies by Beethoven and Shostakovich, music from The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur film scores, and a pops concert featuring “Great Ladies of Swing.” May’s program will feature music by American composer Florence Price, an Arkansas native, and the orchestra plans to record Price’s four symphonies at the end of the 2017-18 season.
Posted August 10, 2017
Pictured: John Jeter leads a Fort Smith Symphony rehearsal at the Arkansas Best Performing Arts Center, October 2016.
