NEWS RELEASE
Date: September 24, 2018
For Immediate Release
Photos Available Upon Request
Contact: Lexi Locke
Phone: 417.864.6683
Cell: 417.860.9690
lexi@springfieldmosymphony.org
Springfield Symphony sets path to answer Who Am I and Where Am I Going?
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Springfield Symphony will continue its “The Big Questions” theme which poses life’s philosophical questions with the classical concert, Who Am I and Where Am I Going? The performance will feature soprano Jennifer Forni on Mahler’s Fourth Symphony as well as Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 on Saturday, October 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts.
“We’re going to be playing one of my absolute favorite pieces for soprano and orchestra, Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,” with local treasure Jennifer Forni.” said Kyle Wiley Pickett music director/conductor for the Springfield Symphony. “This piece is kind of an impressionistic essay—the singer tells of an uneventful evening from childhood, lying on quilts in the front yard, hearing street cars, seeing neighbors in their rocking chairs, and gazing at the stars. The simplicity and innocence of the memory gives way to a more complex meditation of trying to understand who we are and our place in the universe.”
“We will also play Gustav Mahler’s 4th Symphony,” Pickett continued, ”which features our soprano soloist on a text that ponders in a child-like way what Heaven might be like. This is surely one of the most gorgeous symphonies ever written. It’s haunting and a little surprising, and the third movement is achingly ethereal. It’s the kind of piece that you almost hold your breath while you’re listening to it because it is just so arrestingly beautiful. And to tie up the theme, we’re playing the Prelude to the opera of “Hansel and Gretel,” because at the heart of that fairy tale is the very question we’re asking, “Where am I going?” Once again, we look to childhood to help us answer this question, and once again, an innocent query belies a much deeper and darker existential question.”
Pickett will deliver a pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. from the stage and pre-concert music will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are currently on sale at the Juanita K. Hammons Hall box office, and can be purchased by calling (417) 836-7678 or online at www.missouristatetix.com. Ticket prices range from $10 – $40 and discounts are available for students and seniors.
Join Pickett at a free monthly event, Behind the Baton, at Springfield Art Museum on Thursday, October 4 (1111 E. Brookside Dr) for the opportunity to meet Pickett and the featured soloist and hear about the music that will be performed at the October 6 concert. The meet & greet begins at 5:15 p.m. and the program will begin at 5:45 p.m.
Pickett is available for any interviews or questions. Please feel free to email him at kwpickett@gmail.com or call at (417) 837-9422. The concert is being sponsored by Reliable Superstore, Ozarks Fox and Fast Frames & Gallery.
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation and an Equal Opportunity Employer. Additional funding for all Springfield Symphony Orchestra programming is provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency. For more information, visit www.springfieldmosymphony.org or www.facebook.com/springfieldsymphony.
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