Community and Connections Season 2 Episode 5 with the Wheeling Symphony

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to community and Connections. I'm your host, Drake Watson,
along with Sam glad to be joined today and we
have two great guests from Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, John Devlin
and Sadie Varlas. Thank you guys for joining us this
time and we're excited to talk about the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, thank you so much for having us today, Drake.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
So how about this. Let's kick off with a little
bit about some history. When did the orchestra begin? The
symphony do you know offhand the first year?

Speaker 4 (00:35):
Well, we just finished our ninety fifth year and the
orchestra was founded in nineteen twenty nine.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
We're just two years.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
Younger than the Capital Theater. We're sitting right adjacent to
the lobby here, and we feel very privileged to be
connected to such a long history of over nine decades
of beautiful orchestral music here in the Ohio Valley.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
That's wonderful ninety five years and it's a gem here
in the valley that we have been lucky enough to have.
You know, it's a great thing.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, no doubt about it. So talk to us a
little bit about your guys's involvement in the community. Obviously,
we're all about community and connections and playing such a
large role in the community. Describe your involvement in your
role in that absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
So community is very important to us at the Wheeling Symphony.
I mean that is our tagline is your Community and Concert.
It's what drives us, it is what is in the
back of our minds when we are programming our seasons.
So we are always trying to create concerts that we
think our community would enjoy and show up for. And
so we have our seven concert series throughout the year,

(01:39):
and then we also provide free community concerts around holidays.
So coming up soon on July fourth, we have our
big July fourth tour where we will go around West
Virginia and provide free patriotic concerts to different communities around there.
And then we also have our Music under the Stars
concert up at Ogilby right around Labor Day, which is
another free concert. We're also always looking for ways to

(02:03):
engage with community musicians in the Ohio Valley. So just
recently we started a community choir, so the Wheeling Symphony
Community Choir. It had about forty members and there are
musicians from all over the valley. Who got an opportunity
to perform on stage with the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. So
that was a really special thing for us to be
able to do because a lot of these local musicians

(02:24):
don't have an opportunity to perform in something like this.
So those are just some of the ways that we
try to engage with our community and get out there.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
That's good stuff. So when you go to different for
different holidays, for example, what does that look like when
for somebody in the community, maybe somebody who hasn't been
I may or may not be speaking about myself. What's
that process like, especially where they can find all the
information and then whenever they go and enjoy the music.

Speaker 4 (02:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Absolutely, So you can find all of our concert information
on Wheeling Symphony and we are you know, we want
to open up our doors to everybody that might be interested.
You don't have to have any background in classical music.
You don't have to wear a certain outfit. You know
a lot of people ask, well, do I have to
dress up to come to the symphony, And no, you don't.
You can, but you don't have to. You can show

(03:17):
up in jeans and a T shirt. It doesn't matter
as long as you were there to enjoy music and
enjoy the community. We would love to have you there.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
Well, good stuff, and part of the community is introducing
folks to classical music that may think that it's not
part of their world. Sure, so, one thing that has
the Symphony has done over the past couple years is
increased more like movie themes, like the movie Night has

(03:49):
turned into huge. So, mister Devlin, what was the first
one that you got to be a part of and
why did the Symphony decide to go oh this direction?

Speaker 4 (04:03):
Sure well, Acadie mentioned we have a variety of concert
series and those are divided into those free community concerts
largely centered around holidays, and then the seven concert classical
and pop series that takes place right here in the
Capitol Theater. But what was missing to me was something
designed specifically for families. Because we've been thinking a lot
about that, right. Classical series is a little bit more

(04:24):
for the aficionados in town. We're trying to make that
feel a little bit more open because we focus on
new American music in those series, and we found that
that's drawn about thirty percent more people over the last
five years. But also the family series has kind of
developed a space within our pop series and for the movies,
as you mentioned, we decided to start with John Williams,
and we haven't felt the need to change because he's

(04:46):
so iconic, So we started with Jurassic Park. Then the
next two subsequent years we went Harry Potter Movie one,
Harry Potter Movie two, and next year we're going with
the original nineteen seventy seven Star Wars episode for a
new hope. We found that the Capital Theater sells out,
that we have lots of first time attendees to our
concert series in the Capitol, and that lots of families

(05:08):
have come. We're trying to facilitate that by making that
movie series a matinee, so it's at two pm in
the afternoon. It's a great time for people, even with
younger kids, to give them their first experience at the symphony.
And the other thing that we found with those those
concerts is that there's an intergenerational interest in these concerts
because Star Wars, Harry Potter, these are things that keep

(05:29):
recurring in pop culture. There are new products being made.
We've got this new HBO show coming with Harry Potter,
and even further generation is going to become invested in
that story. So we love that aspect of it. And
this is something that we're increasing not only to families
that attend the concerts, but we have a tuition free
Youth Orchestra where students in the Ohio Valley that play
instruments can get professional level instruction for free from members

(05:51):
of our conducting staff and members of our orchestra, as
well as performed side by side with the WSO at
the Capital Theater, which is something that we introduced into
our programming for the first just last year.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
Well, it's a great way when you tie in such
iconic music by mister Williams and you take Star Wars
for example. I mean that was one of the first
films I've ever watched with my dad, So everybody has
like a personal connection like that. But it also introduces
young people, even little kids, to say, oh yeah, there

(06:23):
is music in that, like it's just part of a
film and you don't really put the connection between there's
people behind those instruments that is making these worlds come
to life.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Absolutely, and I would say it's not just limited to kids.
As a grown up sitting in the audience watching it,
you don't realize you know, you don't always notice the
music when you're watching the movie, but when the musicians
are sitting right in front of you on stage playing
it live, you get a whole new appreciation for the soundtrack.
It's a really, really cool experience.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
One of the things that I've noticed is, you know,
listening to things like that when you're younger, you don't
really get a grasp for the level of difficulty it
takes to pull something like that off. And then the
order you get, you kind of you look at every
single face that's performing and you're like, they how difficult
must it be for them to perform the job that
they have? And obviously you know they're very good, but

(07:17):
the level of focus it takes, you know, especially if
you've got to be the one to play that one
dissonant note and you might not be able to hear,
you know, everything else. But I think the order you
get you develop an appreciation for the high level of
skill it takes to perform well.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
In speaking in the musicians, how many musicians in total
make up the Wheeling Symphony.

Speaker 4 (07:39):
We have about sixty core musicians who have won an
audition and are officially members of the ensemble. Those people
go through a tenure review process over the first two
years of their involvement with the orchestra, and if they
get that third contract after the first two probationary years,
then they are official lifetime members of the orchestra with tenures.

(07:59):
So I am the ninth music director in the Wheeling
Symphony's ninety five year history. So there's about a new
music director every ten to fifteen years. But the musicians,
many of them who you will see on the stage,
have been in the orchestra for decades. They come to
Pittsburgh typically and attend Carnegie, Mellon, pitt or Duquane and
then at some point auditioned into the symphony. And for
the most part we share players with the Pittsburgh Ballet

(08:21):
and Pittsburgh Opera orchestras. We stagger our schedule intentionally, so
most people can play in all three and they form
a beautiful musical life with the Wheeling Symphony right at
the center.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
The design of the having those those two initial years
and then you know, finally being locked in, so to speak,
in that third year. Is that to prevent so much turnover?
What's the thought process behind that?

Speaker 4 (08:45):
There are very few professions where tenure is granted. You know,
typically that's reserved for an academic setting. But the reason
that that works for an orchestra is because they need
to be able to feel free as artists to express themselves,
and that kind of unionization of the orc chestra helps
protect them as an ensemble against any changes that may
happen at management over the course of nine decades that

(09:07):
threaten the sanctity of what is a jewel, which is
the symphony orchestra. So they are protected for very very
good reason. Now you talked about the two probationary years.
That's because we don't know them very well. On the
audition we may have heard them play behind a screen
to preserve anonymity during the audition process for ten to
fifteen minutes, and then they get a place in the orchestra.

(09:28):
Then over the course of those two years, we learn
who they are as people, how they are as colleagues.
Do they prepare without fail for every single time they
need to be on the stage with us, We think
about them, are they good fits with our musical culture?
And then in the orchestra, within each section, we have
a player called the principal player that is de facto
the captain of that particular team, and that person and

(09:49):
I collaborate very closely in determining the ten year decisions
that the orchestra needs to make every single year.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
So it's a process that has stood the test of time.

Speaker 4 (09:58):
It's effective and making sure the culture of the symphony
is what we want it to be and it ensures
musical excellence.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
Well, talk to us. We've talked a lot about the
symphony orchestra. Talk to us about your guys' backgrounds and
how you got started. You said, how long have you
been in the director?

Speaker 4 (10:13):
By the way, Okay, I'm about to start my seventh season.
I started in the fall of twenty nineteen. Okay, so
based on average, you've got a few years left. I
hope many more than that. But yes, I'm very excited
because the future is so bright here at the WSO.
And you can imagine that as soon as you finish
your ninety fifth year, you start looking forward to what
year one hundred is going to be. I can't wait

(10:34):
to be here for that year and many beyond.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
So talk to us about how you what was your
inspiration to kind of draw you into this world and
into the roles that you guys each play sure.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
So I have always had a life that's been very
involved in the arts. When I was in school, high
school and before that, I was very musical in the band,
in the orchestra, jazz band, steel band, pretty much anything
that you can do musically I was involved in. And
then I was also very involved in theater and other
sorts of performing arts. So I've always had that a
sort of my foundation. And then when I went to college,

(11:08):
I changed my major about four different times and ended
up getting an English degree and then going on to
get a master's degree. So I also have a very
big background in writing. So this job as the marketing
manager and communications manager for the Wheeling Symphony really combines
that foundation, my love for the arts and for music

(11:28):
with the skills that I developed in college as a writer.
So that is sort of what led me here. It's
a really great fit so far.

Speaker 4 (11:37):
And for me, you know, I work with the team
that Sadie's in charge of to develop what you see.
We all have a brochure for the Whele League Symphonies
next season in hand, and I have a lot of
musical ideas and create concerts that I work on in
response to the surveys that Sadies team lists from our
audience members, and we take that feedback very seriously. We
think about what has been performed recently and has worked

(12:00):
we want to keep going, and we think about what
hasn't been seen on the stage recently, and also we
look at the national conversation. In fact, last week I
spent the week in Salt Lake City where there was
a gathering of all of the orchestral leaders from around
the country to talk about the trends in our industry
and where we see the most important work being And
so what you see when we announce a season as
a result of a deep collaboration. In fact, the theme

(12:20):
of the season is one that Sadie and her colleague
Adam generated that directly connects to the state of West
Virginia and the type of feeling we want people to
have when they come to concerts at the Capitol. So
Sadie's background in music and storytelling and mine in concert
design kind of come together. And you asked about what
drew me to this is that when you play an
instrument in an orchestra, which I did as a clarinetis

(12:41):
for a long time you have a very specific role
to do one thing excellently. What I like about conducting
is that no two days are the same. I spend
about five percent of my time conducting and about ninety
five percent of my time being an ambassador for classical
music in the community, doing things like I'm doing right now,
talking to people that we want to bring closer into
the family of the orchestra. I make them feel like
classical music is for them because one of the things

(13:04):
that Sadie mentioned, we get asked, Okay, what do I
wear to a classical music concert? And what if I
don't understand anything about the music? And we want people
to know that either of those things should not be
a barrier to you coming I explain every piece from
the stage. We carefully pick things for our Masterwork series
that we think will be a great introduction for first
time concert goers as well as satisfying for the people

(13:25):
that know classical music deeply for their whole life. So
that kind of combination of approach is what drew me
to this, And I love speaking on behalf of the
relevancy of classical music and what the future of an
orchestra should be like in a place like Wheeling.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
And being part of the community is a huge part
of what we're doing with this podcast, and the community
steps up for the symphony also, I am aware of
like farmed Fork, the different events that you guys do
for fundraising. I know Alicia Jordan very well is very

(13:59):
much involved. So we not only are you part of
the community, but a part of the community is part
of the.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Orchestra one hundred percent. We have such a supportive community
here and we have several organizations that exist Chess to
support us with volunteer work. So we have a very
large board of directors that helps guide the symphony as
we grow. And then we have the Wheeling Symphony Auxiliary.
That's what you mentioned farm to Fork that's their their

(14:25):
summer fundraiser, a little you know farm a table situation,
but that consists of a group of about forty to
sixty people. I think that are entire they're all volunteers
and they exist Chess to support us in different ways,
whether that be raising money or volunteering at concerts. Basically
whatever we need help with, they are quick to step up.

(14:47):
So we are so grateful for those different organizations that
help support us well.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
There's also the perse event also that they do yes,
that you've got snag a bag. Yes, snag a bag.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
Got a few of my dollars out of snag a
bag before. Yes, Yes, that's a fun one too.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
Absolutely. Yeah, And that's great because those events too, even
though they support our mission at the symphony, they're social events.
So it's a great opportunity for the people that are
avid wheeling symphony supporters to be able to go and
talk to each other in a non musical setting, so
that way they can socialize a little bit while also

(15:22):
enjoying you know, great food, bit on some purses, and
then usually there's some musical element there too, So it's
like the perfect combination of everything that.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
We stand and that's building the connections. Again, our show
is you know, community, community and connections, and you know,
right there with those events, you tie in the two
most prominent words in the title of the podcast.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
I was just about to touch on the connection aspect
of it. Obviously, that is a big part of what
we're all about here, and specifically when it comes to
the connection between the youth in the community, in the
musical world, and then how that is connected to what
you guys are doing. What's that process like of maybe
a student at a local high school who maybe has

(16:06):
aspirations of one day performing next door and then they
go get a degree.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
They do it all through college. What's that process like?
We support music education starting at very young ages and
provide a pathway all the way through pre professional training.
So every year we play eight to ten free concerts
in three different states for fourth graders that are just
picking their first orchestral or band instruments, so that they

(16:32):
get a sense of what the goal is when they
pick up their first musical instrument. Then we offer the
tuition free Youth Orchestra system where we can train those
types of players to be ensemble members of the highest level.
We have free and discounted student tickets all the way
through the university system that we support here in close partnership,

(16:53):
especially with West Liberty University that is a major artistic
and cultural partner for US. I serve on a board
over there, their leadership serves on a board here, and
many of their professors perform or write music for the symphony.
And then the other thing that we have our pre
professional training program. So for example, we have a conductor
fellow at the symphony who went through our youth orchestra system,

(17:14):
got like you mentioned, a master's degree in orchestral conducting
and is now a professional member of our conducting staff,
and I mentor that person. And over the years we've
had many, many, many emerging professional musicians perform a soloist
with the symphony. And if you see this year, you'll
look towards Symphony on ice and Amanda McGovern, a local
talented singer who wants to become a Broadway star, is

(17:37):
going to be performing with us for the third time
over the last two years. So these are the types
of ongoing relationships we have with people at different levels,
hoping to provide a platform for their art to be amplified,
but also for their career aspirations to be helped by
the Symphony.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
So you guys are very hands on in the process
of helping young musicians, you know, in their aspirations of
becoming you know, professionals.

Speaker 4 (18:01):
Right, we want two things to be true. We want
if you want to be a professional musician, the WSO
has a pathway to help support you in that endeavor.
But probably even more importantly is that we're building people
that feel it. Classical music is a part of their
life as a citizen in the Ohio Valley, and that
if they become a doctor, a lawyer, a scientist, or
a politician, that they will subscribe to the symphony, prioritize

(18:22):
music training in their kids' lives, join a board, donate
these types of things, because so few people will become
professional musicians, but so many people have an opportunity to
support arts and culture here in West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
That's a great point. I hadn't thought of it that
way before. To kind of shift gears. You just talked
about somebody who you hope kind of weaves classical music
into the fabric of their life, whether it be with
their kids or or anything else. What if there's somebody
who comes along this is just a hypothetical and that's

(18:53):
not the status quo for them, and you have to
sell them on classical music. I don't know if you've
thought about this before. So you know, what were some
of the things that you would say if you had
to sell somebody on classical music.

Speaker 2 (19:06):
Well, I think one of the things that I always
say is that you don't have to have any foundational
knowledge right as long as you enjoy live music and
experiencing live music, then you will enjoy a wheeling symphony concert.
And more than that, there we do such a wide
variety of pieces. You know, we talked about the movies earlier,

(19:28):
and then of course we do like your Beethovens and
your Malers and the really established sort of composers that
people associate with classical music. So there's a really wide
range of what somebody might be interested in that we offer.
I mean, two of our most recent performances, we did
a show that was all Broadway music, and then we
did a show that was all soul music. So we

(19:50):
were playing works by Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, music that
everybody seems to know, but you get to experience in
a whole new way when you come to a symphony concert.
So you know, when people say something about like, oh, well,
the symphony isn't for me, I say my response most
of the time is how do you know? Unless you
have been to a concert and you told me that
you hated it and you never want to go back.

(20:11):
Then even then I would say, well, maybe you just
came to the wrong one and you can try again.
So I think a lot of it is just trying
to overcome that misconception that it's inaccessible, because I think
it absolutely is. You can come into the theater not
knowing anything about music, not knowing anything about the pieces,
and you will leave having a positive experience and a

(20:35):
night well spent out in the Ohio Valley.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
That's a good point and just kind of a personal anecdote.
You know, I'm not the excuse me, I'm not the
biggest fan of country music, sure, but I recently got
involved in Catas, Ohio. They have the market the park
at Sower Buffalo Park and they have live music there
all summer and whatnot. And whether you like the music
you don't like the music, I think it's all better
when it's played live. And whether you like it or not,

(20:58):
you can appreciate the the attention to detail that those
that those people have. It's something really special to be
able to perform live. I think is a is a
sacred art.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Absolutely, and I mean I think it would be comparable
in my situation. It's sort of like that with sports.
I don't really have much interest in sports, but I
would love to go to a live game, and there's
something to be said about just appreciating somebody who is
at the highest caliber of that particular thing. So watching
an athlete who has been put in decades of work

(21:29):
is amazing even if you don't know a lot about
football or hockey. And the same goes for music. You
can have an appreciation for the years of training and
the attention and the musicality without necessarily being somebody that's
really well verst in music.

Speaker 1 (21:44):
I think it's a coincidence you bring that up. We
just had a football coach on right before you, guys,
That's what I was thinking. Yeah, there. You know, some
may think there couldn't be a greater contrast. One of
the things I think bridges that gap so well is
there's nothing better than a marching band on a Friday
night or Saturday afternoon on a campus of a high
school or a college. One of the best aspects of

(22:06):
the game of football. And I think great display of
all types of different music and the performance of it
I think is I think it's so fascinating to see,
especially when you hear like a popular song, because classical
songs are written as classical songs, but when you hear
a pop song or any kind of contemporary piece and
it's reworked for any kind of marching band or an orchestra.

(22:28):
I think that's you know, there's a level of genius
that is required, I think to pull that off.

Speaker 4 (22:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
Well, and when you say kind of tying into the
sports thing, music is used in so many aspects for
emotional reactions, whether it's at a sporting game and you
hear queen or you know. And I think that goes
back to the conversation about the classical stuff with folks

(22:54):
who say maybe it's not for me, they've heard it
in contemporary settings and they don't know it.

Speaker 1 (23:03):
Oh, I know of a classical song. I can't pronounce
the name, so I'm not going to try. But there's
a classical song that you can hear on almost every
third down if you watch a college football game.

Speaker 4 (23:12):
Huh.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (23:13):
So I think that one of the things that you're
referencing is the ubiquity of symphonic music.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
And you talk you.

Speaker 4 (23:19):
Label it like we kind of label it classical music,
But I actually like the word symphonic music better simply
it's played by a symphony orchestra, because classical music has
this antiquated notion to it, and it is also specifically
referring in a lot of cases to music that was
written when people wore wigs and you know, walked around
sipping Viennese coffee. For me, the relevance of this music

(23:41):
goes beyond just what happens on the stage. It is
the fact that eighty people come together, put aside all
of their differences and create something beautiful that the community
can share in. And in a time like this one
that feels so divided, like there's two different societies living
together in our cities, that we can all put a
those differences and come celebrate what makes us the bestest humans,

(24:03):
which is our creativity and our ability to perform together.
That to me is what makes the orchestra so special.
It's a gathering place, and we talk about different things
throughout the year. We'll come together and gather and discuss
current events. We'll discuss historical connections to the pieces we're
about to perform, and so whether or not you're performing
a score to a well known symphony by an American
composer that's still alive, or we're transporting you back to

(24:26):
Vienna in seventeen seventy. That ability to develop empathy by
imagining what it's like to be somebody else at a
different time in a different place, and then living that
out together through an examination of liberal arts together. That's
why I think we develop people through education and through
musical experience, is to be better understanders of the world
we live in and be able to put ourselves in

(24:47):
somebody else's shoes. And so that I think is the
single greatest power of an orchestra is that it's a
community that teaches empathy. And so whether we're playing music
that you recognize like Queen, or we're going all the
way back to Mozart, there's something that we can be
experiencing together and getting better as people together, and I
love that power of the orchestra.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
Hans Zimmer good stuff as well.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
Great composer, Oh yeah, set the one you could think
of off the top of your head.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
Yeah, and you just had to pronounce his name.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
Well good because I could think of one besides Beethoven.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Oh yeah, Beethoven, Mozart, all good stuff. Sam, Do you
have anything else to add?

Speaker 3 (25:23):
Just real quick? You know that we're close to the
twenty twenty five to twenty sixth season. What is on tap?
We mentioned the Star Wars night, but besides that, what
else do you can we let people know about.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
Sure, So I'll talk a little bit about our pop
series and then I'll pass it over to John. So
we open the whole season with Prohibition, which is going
to be a really fun night. Think nineteen twenties glamour flappers,
that kind of thing. All of the music is music
from the nineteen twenties, and so it's going to be

(25:55):
giving lots of great gats By vibes, you know, things
like Boardwalk MP that was really popular. So that is
going to be a really fun night. That starts on
September twentieth, we open up the season, and then we
will have Endless Love in February. So this is a
tribute show about love songs, so we'll have lots of

(26:15):
soul inspired pieces and we have two amazing guest vocalists
that will be in town for that performance. And then
in April we have Star Wars a New Hope, which
we are of course really looking forward to.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
Yeah, And so that's our pop series, and then on
the master work side, we'll begin that in late October
on the twenty fifth. And the thing that people should
look forward to that is the visit to Town by a
director and designer named Doug Fitch. Doug thinks about the
future of orchestral concerts and how we can provide visual
and lighting elements that enhance what's happening with the music.

(26:47):
So we talked about community a lot before, and in
this partnership, we'll be teaming up with Ogilby Institute and
their dance company to provide a live setting of theatrical
elements that go along the piece by the great English
composer Brenjamin Britain. So this story comes for an opera
and it's actually a tragedy with there's someone that drowns

(27:08):
and then there's a mob that hunts down somebody that
they think is responsible for the child's death, and it's
incredibly dramatic, and there's a suite of pieces drawn from
the opera that the orchestral will perform, and all those
theatrical elements that normally you would miss if you're not
presenting it in the operatic setting will be delivered through lights,
through enormous banners that are hanging from the ceiling of

(27:28):
the Capitol, and then the dancing component that is delivered
by the young artists from our community. So that's going
to happen in October. There's lots of other great music
on that program as well. Next we'll fast forward to
January for master works too, which is called All My Memories.
And here the highlight is going to be the return
to Wheeling of the young phenom pianist Maxime Lando. He
joined us for the first time three years ago, and

(27:50):
he's the first artist I ever called the next morning
and said, you're coming back to Wheeling as soon as possible.
He made such a stir. He was just nineteen years
old when he made his debut here, and he was
so popular that the Symphony family was just ecstatic to
welcome him back. And his return to Willing will take
place in that first month of twenty twenty six. Two

(28:10):
months later, in March, we have a concert called Her Voice,
which is centered around the week long residency of vocalist
Shara Nova. Shara collaborates with the very best living American composers,
and in this case, she's collaborating with four different ones
on Helika Negrone, Caroline Shaw, Sarah Kirklin Snyder, and Rachel Grimes.
All of those composers combined movements from a huge song

(28:34):
cycle that will be presented on the Capitol with our
strings from the Willing Symphony Orchestra, and earlier in the
week we're doing a special project talking about community connections
at the town Gate Theater with a concert that also
features Shera with a smaller version of our orchestra specifically
designed for young adults. So we love the fact that
we're going to target some young adults and then try
to get them to feel comfortable coming to the concert.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
Hall that Friday.

Speaker 4 (28:56):
And then last but not least, we'll end our season
in May with an incredible concert that's going to feature
the electric violinist Tracy Silverman. Not many people have seen
an electric violin cancer it before, but we love being
at the cutting edge of what's happening again in the
orchestral industry. This piece is a world premiere commission, meaning
that we paid for the composer to write this piece.

(29:18):
It will be the first time that it's performed right
here in Wheeling, West Virginia, and you're going to see
something unlike anything you've ever seen on the stage with
somebody performing American style music with the electric violin a
loop pedal effects. We're combining elements of electronic music with
classical music. And we think it's going to be a
really wonderful way to end the season.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
Wow, that's all fascinating.

Speaker 3 (29:37):
There's something for everybody.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
Yes, absolutely Well if you want to get in touch
with us OUI podcast at Ohio dot edu. More importantly,
Wheelingsymphony dot com to get in touch with the Wheeling
Symphony Orchestra, your community in concert. We really appreciate the
time of John Devlin and Sadivarlas. You guys have been
great for Sam and myself. This has been community and connections.

(30:00):
Thank you for listening and have a good one.