The songs of Elton John come to life as Jeans ‘n Classics returns by popular demand with a program featuring the music of the ever-popular British pop icon. And once again the Bartlesville Choral Society joins in on the fun to perform nearly 20 of the singer’s hits along with the symphony and the great JnC musicians and singers. Beatlesville was such a hit in 2011 that we know Eternally Elton will be equally as memorable.

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The Afternoon Alternative—REAL MUSIC, REAL SHORT, REAL DIFFERENT. A new, exciting venture, as the BSO turns the annual Sunday afternoon concert around. Still just an hour or so long, but featuring noteworthy and substantial music presented in a more casual atmosphere, this concert is a perfect part of a Sunday afternoon, and a perfect alternative to the Saturday night performances. ]]> http://bartlesvillesymphony.org/2012/05/altaft/feed/ 0 http://bartlesvillesymphony.org/2012/05/larger-than-life/ http://bartlesvillesymphony.org/2012/05/larger-than-life/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 16:32:00 +0000 sadmin http://bartlesvillesymphony.org/?p=2296 Buy Tickets

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March 2, 2013
2:00pm

The Bartlesville Symphony at its spectacular finest! With music depicting some of music’s most notable heroes (and anti-heroes) this musical evening will let listeners experience firsthand the triumph and tragedy, fame and foibles of memorable characters like Billy the Kid, Prince Valiant, Don Quixote, Taras Bulba, and more. From movies, and the stages of ballet, opera and concert hall, this music is sure to thrill and excite, from start to finish.

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The brilliant pianist Donald Ryan teams up with his equally brilliant son Barron, for a delightful evening of music—classical and otherwise. Equally at home with jazz as with the classical masters, Ryan and Ryan will be heard performing a two-piano concerto by Mendelssohn as well as a wild assortment of jazz, pop, light classics and who knows what else! And topping that, they are Tulsa’s own! A concert sure to please!

The memorable music of Old Blue Eyes combines with the energetic talent of Steve Lippia for an evening of that will not just take listeners back in time, but will also bring this timeless music to life in a new and powerful way. Steve Lippia is known throughout the music world for his uncanny vocal and visual similarity to Frank Sinatra, and this exciting show with orchestra plus big band will bring Bartlesville audiences to their feet!

From the very beginning, America has been the destination of choice for immigrants from every part of the globe. Beckoning them has been the hope of freedom and a new beginning with limitless possibilities. Peter Boyer’s evocative Ellis Island, featuring orchestra, actors and stirring visuals, is the centerpiece of this moving concert celebrating our nation’s rich diversity.

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Not the old saying that we’re used to hearing, but nevertheless one rather appropriate to our upcoming concert, at least if one applies it to our featured instrument, the clarinet.

Especially in the hands of our soloist Jon Manasse, the versatility of this supposedly uncomplicated black wooden tube shines out. Ever since its development some 250-plus years ago, the clarinet has been used in music making of all sorts, from country dances to classical concertos, and from jazzy combos to wild and crazy modern art music.

What has made this instrument so popular across the musical spectrum? For starters, I’d say its ease of playing. That’s not to say it’s easy to play. No instrument is easy, at least to play well! Any parent of a beginning band student will tell you that!

But it is of a size and construction that facilitates really fast notes and all sorts of musical pyrotechnics, assuming that the human operator has the capability. Sure, every instrument can be played by a virtuoso, but the clarinet is particularly suited to beginner and virtuoso alike, and can produce music of the utmost complexity far more easily than some other instruments.

Also, I’d say a major draw of the clarinet has been its expressivity. Again, an instrument is only as expressive as its player, but the clarinet is probably the wind instrument that has the widest range of expression, tone color, and characterization. Every hue in the emotional spectrum can find musical expression, it seems, with this hollow black stick. Jazz and classical players alike have plumbed the depths of what this instrument can communicate using only the power of notes.

In our concert on May 5, which we’ve appropriately entitled “Clarinet Combo,” the clarinet is featured for exactly this versatility and varied expression, as the program features the great Clarinet Concerto by Mozart as well as a jazzier concerto by the big band leader and clarinetist Artie Shaw.

Then using that contrast as the theme, the rest of the program is either purely classical or is music from the 1930’s and 40’s that found its inspiration in jazz. Or was it jazz that found inspiration in classical?

In any case, I hope you can join us for a delightful concert, exploring the versatility of the orchestra as well as that of the wonderful clarinet.  It will all make for a great combo. Even without the fries.

For more concert information, go here.

Enter the Bartlesville Symphony’s Raffle to Travel, happening now through May 5.

Purchase tickets at Osage Federal Bank, 66 Credit Union branches, Arvest downtown tower, Phoenix Insurance, 21st Sensory, Pierce Realty Group, Sweet P’s, and the BSO office.

Click here to go to BSOraffle.com

That page will tell you all about this great opportunity to support your symphony and maybe even take the trip of a lifetime!

Imagine the possibilities!

As we approach our upcoming concert Quiet Heroes (March 3), I’ve been thinking back on the interesting pieces that have fallen into place to make this one of the most meaningful and extraordinary concerts that the BSO has produced.

Chris Brubeck, the composer of Quiet Heroes, the concert’s central work, has been an enjoyable colleague and friend since we were first thrown together when I guest conducted in Kalispell, MT fifteen or twenty years ago. We have collaborated several times since, and each concert has featured his innovative music and exciting jazz-tinged performances.

In many ways he and I are the same, but we are also very different. I consider myself a rather versatile musician, but what can compare to growing up in a home like Dave and Iola Brubeck’s? My musical experience and abilities are but a speck compared to the richness of the Brubeck heritage and the abilities of Chris and his siblings.

But it’s also interesting that we were born only 10 days and about that many miles apart. So we’re definitely of the same generation, albeit when I was sawing away in a college practice room, Chris was touring, recording and playing in bands including his dad’s quartet.

But it was during those days in the late 60’s and early 70’s that we both watched many in our generation fly off to Viet Nam to either grow up very rapidly, or be shipped home in a box. Whether in or out of the service, those difficult times shaped all of us baby boomers, and affect us to this day.

Wilford Brimley (our narrator), older than us by “several” years, served in the Marines and fell into his acting career (perhaps literally) via the role of movie stuntman and horseman. While Chris and I were beginning our “adult” careers in music, Wilford was a regular on “The Waltons” and went on to many movie appearances. He continues to advocate for many conservative causes from his home base ranch in Wyoming.

When Chris first shared Quiet Heroes with Wilford at the Monterey Jazz Festival, the noted actor said he would narrate the work whenever and wherever he possibly could. It continues to be that meaningful to him.

Sometimes, not often mind you, but SOMEtimes I have inadvertently avoided pieces of music because somehow I assumed that because “everyone knows them” that I shouldn’t risk over-playing them myself.

That’s not bad in and of itself, because this musical world is SO large that it’s a shame to limit ourselves to just a handful of famous pieces which may or may not be great music, but either way results in looking at the musical world through a pinhole camera. At the very core of who I am musically is my insatiable quest to find something new and unexplored, and then share it with my audiences.

I probably went for nearly 20 years in my current position here with the BSO, and hardly ever repeated a piece of music! Why play something again, I thought, if there’s something equally good or interesting that hasn’t yet been heard?

Well, that’s a nice idea up to a point, but I now realize that quite accidentally that has also resulted in some real gems getting neglected. And whether we want to admit it or not, we are all most comfortable (yours truly included) when experiencing the known, the comfortable, the favorite–be it in music or just about anything.

Case in point: Peter and the Wolf, to be performed in our upcoming Musical Adventures concert on February 12.

We’ve all grown up with this piece and know it well. (Or at least that used to be the case, but that’s probably a topic for a whole additional blog.) So I’ve usually tended to look for alternative ways of skinning the “Introduction to the Orchestra” cat than this rather tried and true musical story. And I think I’ve been fairly imaginative on a few occasions over the decades.

But when “Peter and the Wolf” was suggested for this season, after my initial hesitancy for reasons stated above, I finally had to say, “Why not? We sure haven’t done it too recently.”

Well, imagine my surprise to find that we’ve NEVER done it, at least not since I showed up in 1977! Nearly 40 years of thinking that it is over-performed has resulted in 40 years of neglect! Wow. Talk about a wakeup call!

Now I should briefly mention that I have conducted it here in Bartlesville. I had sticky notes in my score to prove it, but it took a bit of researching to discover (because I couldn’t remember for the life of me) that we performed it as part of the Bartlesville Civic Ballet’s season, not the orchestra’s. That was in 1999.

So, it is with a little chagrin, but with great enthusiasm, that I look forward to finally sharing this work with Bartlesville on a BSO concert. Sunday February 12 at 2 PM is the Musical Adventures concert, designed for the whole family. Charlie Taraboletti, friend of the symphony and well-known local radio personality, will be the narrator.

And hopefully the couple of generations that grew up here since it was last played on a symphony concert here (perhaps by the Phillips Symphony under Bruce Price?) have discovered Peter anyway, in spite of our neglect, and found it to be the fun introduction to the orchestra that the rest of us did.

Walt Disney helped a little in that regard, too. But there’s nothing like a live symphony. Join us. And bring your parents and grandparents.