Mankato Symphony Orchestra

Mankato Symphony Orchestra

Kenneth Freed—Music Director

The 2009-2010 Concert Season


CLASSIC SERIES

DEBUT

Sunday, October 4, 2009 3:00 p.m. | Mankato West High School Auditorium
Johnny Gandelsman, violin


Symphony No. 31, “Horn Signal” – Haydn
Violin Concerto in E minor - Mendelssohn
Violin Concerto in D major, op. 77 – Brahms


Come hear one of the rising stars of the Silk Road Ensemble, Johnny Gandelsman, as he makes his debut with the MSO. Watch as this charismatic phenom weaves his musical spell with the
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. Hear our own rising stars, the french horn section featured in Haydn’s Horn Signal Symphony. Finally, marvel as the orchestra takes center stage with the glorious and heartwarming First Symphony of Johannes Brahms.

 

LUDWIG LIVES

Sunday, November 15, 2009 3:00 p.m. | Mankato West High School Auditorium
Tony Ross, Ruggero Allifranchini, David Viscoli

Egmont op. 84 – Beethoven
Triple Concerto in C major op. 56 – Beethoven
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, op. 55 – Beethoven


Beethoven was fascinated with the heroic in life and in art, and his music reflects his own personal quest towards the divine. In the Egmont Overture, we hear the personal sacrifice required to fight oppression, and in the Eröica, the high ideals once embodied in Napoleon and the French Revolution. Join Minnesota State virtuoso David Viscoli, and stars of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra, Ruggero Allifranchini and Tony Ross as they take us on Beethoven’s epic journey.

 

CANDY CANE CONCERT

Saturday, December 12, 2009 7:30 p.m. | Mankato West High School Auditorium
Kimm Julian


Our dear friend, Kimm Julian leads the Christmas Sing-A-Long liberally sprinkled with the classics of the season from stage and screen. Guaranteed to warm the hearts of the entire family, hear the MSO bring pure joy and gemütlichkeit to all. Free admission and candy canes for all children under 12 accompanied by an adult.

 

MOSTLY MOZART

Sunday, March 28, 2010 3:00 p.m. | Mankato West High School Auditorium
MN Valley Chorale, Jill Mahr


Overture to Marriage of Figaro – Mozart
Flute Concerto No. 2 in D major – Mozart
Requiem – Mozart


Featuring our own resident Pied Piper, virtuoso flutist Jill Mahr will take you into Mozart’s sublime world of joy and sadness in the D major concerto before the Minnesota Valley Chorale, lifts up their voices in expressions of the Mass in Mozart’s last composition before he died, the Requiem. Made famous in the movie Amadeus, the Requiem speaks to Mozart’s personal view of the divine as he, and we confront the mortal and immortal in this life and the next.

 

GO FOR BAROQUE

Sunday, May 16, 2010 3:00 p.m. | Christ Chapel, Gustavus Adolphus College
Prima Vox (Amy Kortuem, Sara Buechmann and Ann Rosenquist Fee)


Hear the music of Pachelbel, Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Purcell, as the nutty professor, Ken Freed, and Mankato Symphony musicians joined by Prima Vox take you through the greatest hits of the Baroque Era. Think of Music History 101, but with a personal zany twist. As no Baroque music is complete without an organ, this concert will take place at Gustavus Adolphus’ Christ Chapel in Saint Peter.

 

CASUAL SERIES

NIGHT AT THE MOVIES

Saturday, October 24, 2009 7:30 p.m. | Mankato West High School Auditorium
The Magnificent Seven - Elmer Bernstein, Arr. Phillippe
The Wizard of Oz Suite - Arr. Sayre
Star Wars Medley – John Williams
Schindler’s List – John Williams
Jurassic Park – John Williams
Harry Potter Theme – John Williams
and more…


We all love movie music that sweeps us off our feet and out of our seats into the action on the screen, but why? How do great film composers craft their scores so that we don’t even notice (till Academy Award Night!) that they are working their spells on us, the
unsuspecting audience. From Erick Korngold to John Williams, hear how the masters of music and the screen work together to take us to another place.

 

CANDY CANE CONCERT

Saturday, December 12, 2009 7:30 p.m. | Mankato West High School Auditorium
Kimm Julian


Our dear friend, Kimm Julian leads the Christmas Sing-A-Long liberally sprinkled with the classics of the season from stage and screen. Guaranteed to warm the hearts of the entire family, hear the MSO bring pure joy and gemütlichkeit to all. Free admission and candy canes for all children under 12 accompanied by an adult.

 

NIGHT AT THE OPERA

Saturday, February 13, 2010 7:30 p.m. | Mankato West High School Auditorium
Kimm Julian, Dan Dressen, Alisa Pearson

Bass baritone star Kimm Julian, tenor Dan Dressen and rising diva Alisa Pearson sing of love and heartbreak in a night meant to set passion ablaze. Not for the faint of heart, opera sets real life to music like no other art form, and once we glean the story and the words, the music’s romance is designed to pierce all hearts. Ken Freed has a dozen roses and a bottle of champagne for anyone who proposes marriage this night!

 

The Mankato Symphony Orchestra 2009-2010 season is sponsored in part by a grant from the MN State Arts Board and the City of Mankato Community Grant Program.