“The pandemic, with its restrictions for indoor audiences, gave birth to several innovations for the Wichita Symphony Orchestra during the past year,” writes David Burke in Sunday’s (7/17) Wichita Eagle (KS). “And like Symphony in the Gardens at Botanica and Playing in the Parks with Wichita Parks and Recreation, the orchestra’s Symphony 360 is returning [July 23]…. The concert … at Century II’s convention hall, is symphony-in-the-round with audience members as close as 5 feet from the players. The audience surrounds the orchestra on all sides.… Last year’s [inaugural] concert was a hit with symphony patrons [and] also went over well with the symphony performers. ‘I think they liked the intimacy of it and what it invited, which was interaction between the audience and members of the orchestra,’ [Executive Director Don] Reinhold said…. The concert program, selected by [Music Director Daniel] Hege [features] ‘Sonata de Chiesa’ by contemporary Black American composer Adolphus Hailstork … Samuel Barber’s ‘Knoxville: Summer of 1915,’ featuring soprano Courtenay Budd … and Schubert’s Fifth Symphony…. ‘It’s a program of renewal…. It just seems to be the right program for the moment,’ he added.”
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