LIMA — The Lima Symphony Orchestra will return to Veterans Memorial Civic Center with a new show at 7:30 p.m Friday, and it promises to be something that audiences might not be expecting.
“Past and Present Sounds,” featuring cello soloist Henry Shapard, will present several pieces spanning multiple genres and eras that LSO Executive Director Elizabeth Brown thinks will surprise the audience and give them a new perspective.
“I think it’s going to be an opportunity for people to hear the symphony in very different ways,” she said. “I think they know our music and I think they know classical music. I think they will be surprised and I think delighted with what they hear because these pieces are a bit more modern, a bit more recent and they cross genres.”
Among the four pieces that will be performed are Valerie Coleman’s “Fanfare for Uncommon Times,” Friedrich Gulda’s “Cello Concerto,” Jocelyn Morlock’s “Oiseaux bleus et sauvages” and Howard Hanson’s “Symphony No. 2 ‘Romantic.’”
“The Howard Hanson piece is a really big Hollywood romance, and sounds very much like it could be a movie theme,” said Brown, describing the pieces. “And the Gulda ‘Cello Concerto’ is just so interesting, and it has elements of rock and roll. It has elements of a German boxer dance. It has big-band elements and it really covers almost everything. I think people will be very interested in the sounds that are coming to the stage.”
Brown also had high praise for Shapard, the 23-year-old principal cellist of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra who will be featured in the Gulda piece.
“He is the perfect person to do this cello concerto,” she said. “He’s actually the youngest principal cello to win that seat by audition, in any major American orchestra. And he brings this youthful energy and this interest in more modern, more diverse music. So I think that his presence for the cello concerto is just the perfect piece for him. And he is part of the Vancouver Symphony, so he and our new music director Andrew Crust know one another very well worked together very well and I think it will be a great partnership.”
And the Civic Center is looking forward to the show as usual, also.
“The Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center is always proud to be host to the amazing Lima Symphony Orchestra,” said Civic Center CEO Abe Ambroza. “Their upcoming show ‘Past and Present Sounds’ will have more of the amazing music we all love and expect to hear from this incredible collection of talented musicians.”
It is all part of how the orchestra is trying to appeal to a greater audience, according to Brown.
“We’re really trying to highlight people within our orchestra,” she said. “And we’re really trying to diversify and broaden our repertoire and appeal to an audience beyond our traditional audience. And I think people saw that with our first concert and I think this is really just a continuation of our desire to reflect the interests and needs of our community in the district a little better.”
All the preparation that is left now are rehearsals with Shapard.
For anyone looking for more information on the Lima Symphony Orchestra, there is a kids program at the Lima Public Library once a month, and tickets for the “Past and Present Sounds” show are on sale now.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Lima Symphony Orchestra presents “Past and Present Sounds”
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Veterans Memorial Civic Center, 7 Town Square, Lima
Tickets start at $35 and are available at https://bit.ly/3ObOOOl.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
