BRAVISSIMO! 20 Questions for 20 Years By Rob Kachelriess Photos Courtesy Las Vegas Philharmonic
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he Las Vegas Philharmonic celebrates its 20th anniversary as the 2018-2019 season gets underway at the Smith Center. President and CEO Jeri Crawford, Music Director Donato Cabrera and Principal Oboe Stephen Caplan reflect back on the milestones and evolution of the Philharmonic over the past two decades. How man o cial shows has the Las Vegas Philharmonic la ed? The April 2019 concert “Dvorak in America” will mark 150 performances for the Philharmonic. “We’ve performed on Saturday evenings since the beginning,” says Crawford. How man additional shows ha e been art of the o th oncert eries? The Philharmonic has performed 180 free shows for Clark County students over the years. “We reach almost 20,000 kids a year through our youth concerts,” says Cabrera. “We also now take music to the schools for more one-on-one interaction with the kids, so they can actually touch the instrument and maybe try to play it.” here and when did the Philharmonic la its first show? The first official show was July , 1 at ills Park in Summerlin. “There had been orchestras in Las Vegas for many years before the Las Vegas Philharmonic,” says Caplan. “The Nevada Symphony was struggling to meet payroll and a lot of musicians were disappointed. al Weller had guest conducted and saw what was going on. e felt there was an audience for an even bigger orchestra and didn’t understand why this one was struggling. When the Nevada Symphony officially fell apart, he organized that July th concert by the seat of his pants. All of a sudden, the Las Vegas Philharmonic program guides from the last twenty years.
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9/30/18 3:52 PM