The Southern Tier Symphony is ready to “Celebrate Genius” with the works of several popular Classical composers this weekend.
The symphony will perform concerts for Series II of its 20th season, titled “Celebrate Genius,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y., and 3 p.m. Sunday at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.
The pre-concert conductor chat begins at 6:45 p.m. Saturday and at 2:15 p.m. Sunday.
The 20th season opened in October with Series I, entitled “Celebrating Masterworks,” featuring the music of three giants of the Romantic period — Richard Wagner, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Antonín Dvorák.
Music Director Benjamin Grow, now in his sixth season as maestro, said he is excited to be back again, especially after the hiatus with the pandemic.
“It still feels like it’s fresh to be back in full-concert production,” he said. “I’m excited to return to the beautiful Southern Tier and kick things off again with our concert in Olean.”
The concert will consist mostly of works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, focusing primarily on a 10-year period that features his concerto movements, his virtuosity, tunesmith skills and his interest in telling a story through music.
“The dramaturg in him is going to be featured, and we have a couple of works padding the program with music from his peers and mentors and sometimes even somebody who the audience may never have heard of before,” Grow said.
SPECIAL FOR this second series in the 20th season, Grow said he and Laura Peterson, the symphony’s piano soloist and executive director, will be speaking about the concert’s program from the stage. He said it’ll be akin to an informal, live radio show.
“We’re going to tell a few stories, provide a bit of context for the music, discuss what might have led the composers to write in this way and even get the audience involved,” he said. “We don’t get to dig into that sort of detail very often to some of this great music. Hopefully, it won’t get too nerdy, we’ll get them laughing and get them crying.”
Peterson said they are looking forward to continuing the celebration with the orchestra and their audiences. She said the extraordinary orchestra is made up of a changing group of professional musicians who travel to play the series, which means they’ve gotten to know a lot of different musicians in the last two decades.
“That they have continued to come to perform with the orchestra must mean that the Southern Tier Symphony, our conductors and boards over the years have been doing something that musicians want to be a part of,” she said. “I’m proud to be a part of the organization and look forward to the next 20 years.”
Series III, “Celebrating Symphony,” will be held May 6 and 7 and feature the music and arrangements of the symphony’s founder and first conductor, John Whitney. Grow said they’re looking forward to closing out the season with a bang.
“There will be some celebratory events surrounding the performances as well, so stay tuned,” he added.
FOLLOWING TWO years of virtual and quarantined performances by musicians around the globe, Grow said it’s been great to be back on the stage with in-person concerts again.
“Music is all about connection, and we’ve been starved of that during the pandemic, and I think audiences were starved of that contact as well,” he said. “We’re hoping to see a lot of familiar faces from before as we rebuild our connection to the community and our listenership.”
Grow has worked with a wide array of ensembles in New York City and serves as Principal Conductor of Chelsea Opera, Co-Director/Conductor of the sinfonietta Ensemble Échappé presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been in residence at the Italian Academy at Columbia University.
Grow also served as music director of Tom Cipullo’s acclaimed opera, “Glory Denied,” at the Prince Theater in Philadelphia. He teaches at The Juilliard School and has been a guest conductor at the Manhattan School of Music.
Grow said he is eager to be back on stage, saying it’s the reason musicians pursue performance as a career. He said their goal is to make a difference, even in some small way with one or two listeners and persuade them to appreciate music as art.
“I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the Southern Tier community over my time there,” he said. “Because I’m only there three times a year, it really does feel like a new return to me, and I’m excited to be riding that energy.”
AS THE 2022-23 concert series continues, Southern Tier Symphony organizers encourage continued participation in one of their key fundraising activities — adopting a musician. Peterson said the response has been good this year, with many musicians being adopted, but more are still available.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the door or purchased on the Southern Tier Symphony website southerntiersymph.org and picked up at Will Call. Students and children are free.
Southern Tier Symphony programs are made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, administered by The Arts Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.
For more information on the symphony, visit southerntiersymph.org.
