We are excited to kick off a new Symphony season in Idaho Falls. The entire community is invited to the Symphony in the Park, a free outdoor concert in Freeman Park that has become one of the most anticipated events of the summer. The 2015 Park Concert on Saturday, Sept. 12 will paint Our Musical Portrait, a musical journey through the 150-year history of the City of Idaho Falls in celebration of our Sesquicentennial. Adam Ballif will perform a clarinet concerto from the swinging Jazz era, and the orchestra will highlight the New World Symphony, the Lone Ranger theme from William Tell, and the blazing brass of John Philip Sousa.
Our subscription season officially begins on Friday, Oct. 9, with Tchaikovsky’s beloved Sleeping Beauty Ballet. The Eugene Ballet Company returns to perform Tchaikovsky’s classical ballet with live music by the Idaho Falls Symphony. In the enchanting story, a wicked curse placed on Princess Aurora casts her into a deep sleep, covering her kingdom in thick ivy for more than 100 years until the heroic Prince Désiré discovers her at last. Beautiful sets and costumes by Eugene Ballet will compliment Tchaikovsky’s lush musical score. The production features local student dancers from the Idaho Falls School of Ballet, and a School Concert of Sleeping Beauty will delight an audience of more than 1,900 students from public, private, charter, and home schools in the Idaho Falls region.
As a benefit concert for the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission, the Idaho Falls Symphony is thrilled to host An Evening with Mark O’Connor on Saturday, Nov. 7. Hailed for his unique blend of classical violin, bluegrass, jazz, and country fiddle, Mark O’Connor brings an energetic evening of new American works and traditional folk music for violin and orchestra that appeals to a broad audience. Mark and his wife Maggie O’Connor will perform with the Idaho Falls Symphony as a dynamic duo. East Idaho’s own Jacie Sites, also a Grand Masters Fiddle Champion, will join the performance and bring a group of students from Strings for Kids. The concert features traditional American music plus works by Mark O’Connor, Charles Ives, and Aaron Copland.
As the holiday season gets under way, the Idaho Falls Symphony performs Handel’s Messiah on Friday, Dec. 4, in the Colonial Theater. The chamber orchestra performance will be sung in English with a cast of four professional soloists—Betsy Uschkrat, Audrey Grover, Tyler Smith, and David Olsen—alongside the talented vocalists of the BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers. The Messiah is a masterpiece that weaves together a sacred and spiritual narrative at just the right time of year. Audiences will be swept away by the beauty of the singing and a glorious host of familiar melodies—including the Hallelujah chorus!
The Symphony celebrates Gershwin and the Roaring Twenties with the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Symphony’s annual Red Dress Concert offers a dazzling display of red dresses and a concert of popular favorites. The music of George Gershwin will put a smile on your face and a swing in your step, including selections from Porgy and Bess and the suite from An American in Paris. The dynamic Ukranian pianist Stanislav Khristenko, first-prize winner of the 2013 Cleveland International Piano Competition, will debut with the IF Symphony in Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue.
Two principal players from the Symphony step out of the orchestra to perform as soloists in an intimate program called Mozart and Melancholy on Saturday, March 5. Dr. Jon Klein, principal horn of the Idaho Falls Symphony and professor of horn at BYU-Idaho, plays the French horn with tremendous command, and his nuanced style will bring Mozart’s second Horn Concerto to life with exquisite clarity. From there, Dr. Alicia McQuay, the newly-minted professor of harp at BYU-Idaho, will showcase the full dramatic potential of the solo harp, performing works by Debussy and Mahler with a lush string orchestra. After intermission, the Symphony performs Mozart’s emotional and transformative Symphony No. 40 in G Minor.
The blazing orchestral showcase of Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony brings our 66th season to a triumphant conclusion on Saturday, April 23, 2016. Written in the summer of 1944 at the height of World War II, Prokofiev’s Symphony portrays mankind’s triumph over ideological differences and a search for common ground through the power of music. The Finale also includes the subscription premiere of Michael-Thomas Foumai’s Big Rip For Orchestra and Franz Schubert’s brooding Unfinished Symphony.
Our three education concerts are designed to bring classical music to the next generation. The annual Family Concert on March 5th caters to families with younger children so that kids can attend the Symphony with their families, “Meet Mozart” and the Maestro, and try out the instruments of the orchestra at our Instrument Petting Zoo. Then when the Idaho Falls Youth Symphony takes the stage, audiences are delighted by a showcase of the musical talents of the students in our community. The Youth Symphony represents one of our best efforts to support music education in Idaho Falls, and the students are simply unbelievable, their concerts need to be seen to be believed. The Youth Symphony performs in Rexburg on Dec. 16 and in Idaho Falls on Dec.17 and April 15. Audition information for students is available at www.ifsymphony.org.