South Bend Symphony heads back to concert hall with Beethoven, Mason, and Mozart

“If things had gone according to plan, the South Bend Symphony Orchestra would be on the cusp of completing its three-season cycle of Beethoven’s nine symphonies” at Morris Performing Arts Center, writes Andrew Hughes in Sunday’s (5/2) South Bend Tribune (IN). “Instead, pandemic hit in March 2020…. Now, the SBSO is preparing to resume the cycle … with Saturday’s … performance of Symphony No. 8 in F major. The Fifth follows two weeks later, while the Ninth will have to wait until the 2022-23 season.… The [Eighth] symphony comes ‘straight out of the gate with joy and energy,’ SBSO Music Director Alastair Willis says…. The concert … begins with ‘Reflections on a Memorial’ by Quinn Mason … a contemporary composer whose works the conductor believes have the potential to still be performed 200 years from now…. The program [also] features SBSO concertmaster Brendan Shea as the soloist for Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 … which he wrote when he was 19…. ‘We’re, hopefully, turning a corner as a country in terms of going to live events. I thought there’s no better concerto for returning to live events,’ says Shea.” The orchestra will perform for an audience capped at 575.