The search for the LSO’s next Music Director & Conductor comes to a crescendo as the three finalists each curate and conduct a concert on the 2023-24 season!The season lineup includes full orchestra Mainstage Concerts at the Long Center for the Performing Arts, the B-Side nightclub series at Rat Pak Venue, and the family-friendly Lollipop Concert.
LSO Executive Director, Sara Mummey believes the new season will be exciting and engaging for long-time listeners and new audiences alike. “The 2023-24 season will be a pivotal one for both the Orchestra and our community as we move into the final phase of the selection process for our next Conductor. Throughout our lineup of shows, audiences will continue to see our commitment to entertaining, thought-provoking, and inclusive programming that suits a wide variety of musical tastes and represents the breadth and diversity of orchestral music.”
Innovative and informal, the B-Side Series kicks off the season on August 24, bringing audiences up-close and personal with small LSO ensembles at the downtown Rat Pak Venue. The hour-long concerts feature music curated by the musicians themselves and a casual, come-as-you-are vibe. Highlights of the series include classic country group The Logan Kirby Band; the New Orleans-style jazz band The Vine Street Syncopators; a French horn and harp duo; Bolling’s “Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano”; a sax quartet; and eclectic global music from ensemble Robin & the Toad. The B-Side concerts begin at 7:30 pm preceded by a cocktail hour and all ages are welcome.
The LSO’s Mainstage Concert series features three world-class finalists in the Music Director & Conductor search – Kalena Bovell, Kelly Corcoran, and Kellen Gray – as they each curate and conduct an entertaining and innovative concert at the Long Center. Each of these concerts will highlight one of three youth winners of the Keller Concerto Competition as a featured soloist. The Mainstage concerts begin at 7:30 pm and will run approximately 90 minutes including a 20-minute intermission.
In November, finalist Kelly Corcoran leads an evening of music inspired by interpersonal connections between us all, opening with Maurice Ravel’sLe Tombeau de Couperin, dedicated to friends of the composer lost in World War I.Coincident Dances by Jessie Montgomeryis inspired by sounds found in New York’s neighborhoods with “the orchestra taking on the role of a DJ of a multicultural dance track.” Honoring the tireless frontline workers of the COVID-19 pandemic, Valerie Coleman’sSeven O’Clock Shout remembers the heartwarming serenades and cheers that broke through the imposed isolation. Edward Elgar presents sketches of his friends through each of hisEnigma Variations.
Kellen Gray conducts an April 2024 program of music from the Americas, leading with Aaron Copland’s invigoratingly open-airAn Outdoor Overture. Estancia,a ballet in four dances by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, illustrates a day in the life of rough-and-readygauchos, or cowboys, in a rural South American ranch in the expansivepampas (plains). Back in the States, the sounds of the city come to life through the US’s signature style, jazz, and African American folk music history with William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1, “Afro-American”.
Kalena Bovell takes the podium in May 2024 to lead an evening of pieces influenced by folk songs and spirituals, opening with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’sOverture to The Song of Hiawatha based on the melody of the spiritual “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”. The fjords, forests, and folk dances of Norway materialize with the charming and popularNorwegian Dances by Edvard Grieg inspired by the folk song collection “Mountain Melodies Old and New”. Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 6 is charged with fiery Bohemian spirit in the evening’s finale.
LSO Assistant Conductor José Valencia will lead the Orchestra for the annual Holiday Pops concert, as well as the family friendly Lollipop Concert which offers kids a delightful introduction to the instruments of the orchestra. Running just under an hour, the Lollipop Concert begins at 7:00 pm. The evening program is preceded by two daytime field trip concerts for 4th and 5th graders from the Greater Lafayette area and surrounding 14 counties.
Discounted packages are available for adults, seniors, and students for the Mainstage and B-Side Series, as well as single tickets. Patrons who purchase a ticket package before June 30, 2023 will receive two complimentary tickets to bring friends along to any concert in their selected events.
For full concert information, or to purchase tickets, visitwww.lafayettesymphony.org or call 765-742-6463.