Lima Symphony to perform ‘Ode to Joy’

LIMA — The Lima Symphony Orchestra season is winding down, but not before a few shows that should send the local musicians out with a bang.

The orchestra will perform “Joyful, Joyful” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9 at the Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center. Marketing and education coordinator Lydia Butterfield said that the show will live up to its premise.

“We’re going to be performing some choral and orchestral pieces, such as Beethoven’s ‘Symphony No. 9,’ which features the ‘Ode to Joy,’” she said. “And the fourth movement goes through a theme of variations and some canons. It’ll be really fun to hear where it actually comes from.”

The orchestra will have help from some guest artists, including the Lima Symphony Chorus.

“We have Summer Aebker, who is our solo soprano; Kira McGirr, our solo mezzo soprano artist; Benjamin Bunsold, our solo tenor; and Benjamin Bunsold, our solo bass-baritone,” Butterfield said. “They will be performing some of these pieces, either solo or as a group in a small choral ensemble, along with ‘Symphony No. 9.’ So that will be really cool to hear some of these pieces along with the orchestra.”

The chorus will also be conducted by an interim choral director, Matthew Moquin-Lee.

“He is a DMA student at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in choral conducting,” Butterfield said. “He is wonderful, and we’re really excited to have him on for this concert.”

Even though it is all a part of the larger theme of the show, there are different parts.

“The concert is meant to be joyful, so although we have some of these more haunting pieces like ‘Erlkonig’ and ‘Die Lorelei,’ we want to try to end on a high note with this really triumphant kind of piece like ‘Ode to Joy,’” Butterfield said. “So we’re really hoping that everyone just kind of brings back this optimistic joyful feeling from the concert.”

For more information on the Joyful, Joyful show, visit bit.ly/3Ir9akH.

Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.