4 minute read
Arts Joseph Zyble
Simone.
Simerman was the winner of the “Sing With The Symphony” contest, which was held in February 2020 before corona-virus precautions began shutting down gatherings.
“Olivia was one of several incredible people in the competition. She won it based on the audience vote,” LaCombe said. “What’s cool about that is it was an idea our conductor, Octavio Mas-Arocas, brought to the symphony, and it’s an example of new innovative ways we’re trying to get more people into seats and to become consistent supports of the symphony.”
The symphony will host the season’s first formal concert on Saturday, Oct. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at Kaufman Auditorium in Marquette. The concert will feature a classical work by Beethoven and a modern arrangement titled, “Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) by Missy Mazzoli.
“It’s two completely different kinds of music that are combined together in the same concert,” LaCombe said.
The popular “Sounds of the Holiday” concert will be held Dec. 18 with local music directors Steve Grugin and Janis Peterson sharing conductor duties.
“Sounds of the Holidays always draws a huge crowd every year … it’s always a great way to enjoy whatever aspect of the season you celebrate, but we combine it all. It promotes a lot of positivity about where we live around the holidays and the incredible musicians we have. “
The March 12 concert will feature youth concerto winner Xiaoya Liu who will perform Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. The final concert of the season will be on May 7 and will feature youth concerto winner Christine Harada Li performing Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1.
About 60 musicians perform at a typical Marquette Symphony Orchestra concert. The musicians are paid a stipend for rehearsing and performing in concerts. Ticket sales, donations and grants all support the many costs involved in making the symphony possible.
While the symphony enjoys a good following, it is seeking to attract more people to the symphony orchestra experience.
“One goal is to appeal to people who may have never gone to the symphony before,” LaCombe. “People may have misconceptions about what we are and we want to appeal to all kinds of people, people who just love live music.”
Janis Peterson, one of the symphony founders, remains very active in the symphony serving as a violinist, concertmaster, youth concerto coordinator and more. She said the dedication of so many talented musicians and support of the community has enabled the symphony to reach this anniversary year.
“Most of our musicians have day jobs. We have people from doctors and dentists to every kind of occupation. Many work all day then go home and practice at night. They care,” she said.
There are also formal practices, which Peterson describes as “pretty intense. It’s not just a picnic,” she laughs, “although it feels like it. I can say everyone in there is just so happy to make music. It’s just a great bunch of people.”
Peterson, who is now retired following 37 years as a music teacher, said one of her goals when working to form the symphony was to make it appeal to her students.
“I wanted something my students would aspire to belong to, and that has worked very well,” she said.
While the symphony performances are exciting and moving, she described the August concert as “one of the most incredible nights of all 25 years” of the Marquette Symphony Orchestra’s history.
“The way the community came out to support it, and the way everyone embraced the modern piece we did (Our New Day Begun, a piece about the historical struggles of African Americans) … it was very emotional for me. You could’ve heard a pin drop during that,” Peterson said. “Just the whole feeling of the night and the many smiles I could see in the crowd, and it was a crowd!”
Following results from surveys a few years ago, the symphony has adopted changes to draw more fans. It has added more contemporary music to its concerts, developed a smaller, less formal group called The Summer Strings that performs in Marquette three nights each summer, produced on-line performances during the pandemic, and is beginning an education outreach soon.
According to LaCombe, “Getting to the 25-year milestone is huge. A lot of organizations don’t make it that far.”
“ We’re growing and we’re finding new ways to do what we love, and that’s share music with more and more people,” he said.
About the author: Joseph Zyble is an amateur music appreciationist. He enjoys all of the classical composers: Bach and Beethoven, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Styx and the Stones.
