Enid Symphony Orchestra will start the season with a little jazz this year as the Brubeck Brothers come to Enid Symphony Center.
Brothers Chris and Danny are the sons of jazz great Dave Brubeck. They will bring their quartet to Enid Oct. 2-3. While in town they also will go to Enid High School to work with students on a master’s jazz class.
Prior to the opening of the subscription season ESO will perform during the annual Fourth of July celebration at Meadowlake Park. This year’s performance is titled “Chips and Salsa,” and executive director Doug Newell said it is a “salsa mix” of music. The symphony will perform and then accompany the fireworks program.
On Sept. 2, the orchestra will present “Pedro y El Lobo,” which is “Peter and the Wolf” narrated in Spanish. It will perform its annual concert at David Allen Memorial Ballpark Sept. 18.
In November, Enid native Kyle Dillingham will present a fiddling workshop, along with his subscription performance.
Thanksgiving weekend, as part of the subscription season, the symphony will present “Ahmal and the Night Visitors” Nov. 26 and Nov. 28. On Nov. 27 there will be a free children’s matinee.
Newell said the symphony will incorporate members of the Cimarron Circuit Opera Co. and dancers in the opera. The law firm of Gungoll, Jackson, Collins, Box and DeVoll underwrote a special children’s concert last season, and Newell said because of their support they can do additional children’s concerts this season.
“The response to ‘La Boheme’ last year was so good, we are bringing in the opera company to do ‘Amahl,’” Newell said.
“Amahl and the Night Visitors,” by Gian Carlo Menotti, is the story of a crippled shepherd boy who is visited by the three kings searching for the Christ child. While they are there a miracle occurs and the boy is able to walk.
In February, the symphony turns romantic as soloist Lawana Newell performs the last four songs written by Richard Strauss.
Pianist Mariangelo Vacatello returns this season and will bring her husband, Adriano Falcioni. They will perform a recital for donors March 31, 2011. Vacatello will perform Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor April 2-3. Falcioni will perform an organ recital at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church on March 29. He is organist at Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Perugia, Italy.
“This past year we have the highest single-ticket sales since we’ve been in this facility, and we’ve already had excellent inquiries on next season, including some young people,” Newell said.
The appearances of guest artists in Enid schools is underwritten by a grant from James E. and Mary M. Barnes Foundation.
Newell said the symphony likes to focus on internationally known artists and those with Oklahoma and Enid connections.
In addition, Newell has been invited to attend the League of American Orchestras in Atlanta, June 17. Newell will be a peer presenter about the symphony center, one of the few in the United States that owns its own concert hall, along with Advance Food Co. Newell will discuss how nonprofits can work with businesses.
The symphony is beginning a new marketing campaign and introducing a new website. The Jane Champlin Art Gallery recently was equipped with a surround-sound system that will enhance teaching.