September 26, 2025 • 32 mins
Ever wondered what happens when you blend classical orchestral music with tacos, ballet, and rock legends? Join us as we sit down with Rachel Hagemeier, the dynamic President and CEO of the Canton Symphony Orchestra, who is revolutionizing how orchestral music connects with communities.
Rachel's journey from Oklahoma bassoonist to symphony leadership reveals how passion and vision can transform traditional institutions. Under her guidance, the Canton Symphony has evolved into a community cornerstone, averaging an incredible event every four days throughout Stark County and beyond.
What makes this orchestra special isn't just musical excellence (though their musicians come from across the country to perform), but their commitment to making orchestral music accessible and relevant. Their innovative programming includes the Divergent Sounds series, where local musicians of all genres collaborate with symphony players, and Pops concerts featuring everything from holiday classics to the music of Queen, Pink Floyd, and Canton's own Macy Gray.
Behind the scenes, Rachel shares candid insights about the challenges of orchestral management—concerts costing up to $75,000 just for musicians, ticket sales covering only one-fifth of expenses, and the constant balance between artistic excellence and financial reality. This transparency highlights how vital community support through attendance, volunteering, and donations truly is.
Looking ahead to their "When Our Stories Meet" season, the Symphony will showcase diverse American voices through music, from Amy Beach's groundbreaking compositions to Jesse Montgomery's contemporary expressions, all while inviting community participation through unique initiatives like photo choreography projects.
Whether you're a classical music enthusiast or someone who's never set foot in a concert hall, this conversation will change how you think about orchestras and their potential to build community through the universal language of music. Ready to experience the symphony in a whole new way?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome back to a new episode of Brutally Made.
I am so excited to bring to youour local Canton Symphony
Orchestra President and CEO,Rachel Hagemeyer.
Thank you so much for taking amoment of your busy, busy
schedule to be with me today andshare everything that our
(00:26):
symphony is doing in thecommunity.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you so much for having me Very excited to be
here with you and your wonderful, bright and amazing personality
and space and everything.
It's just so lovely.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Oh, you're very kind.
Thank you so much.
I just love how much that youhave evolved the symphony to be
partners with so many wonderfulorganizations in the community
and the arts emphasis that youhave created.
So I would love for you toshare a little bit about your
journey to the position that youhave, because you are just such
(01:02):
a wonderful influence in thisarea and I want to share that
with the world.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, so I have.
It's probably a shorter storythan other people, but I am
originally from Oklahoma.
I was born in Kansas, raised inOklahoma, but I've been in Ohio
now for over 10 years.
I went to school at the BaldwinWallace Conservatory of Music
(01:30):
and I got degrees in bassoon,performance and arts
administration, and when you putthat together you run a
symphony.
So I got those degrees and Idid that wonderful arts
administration program and got alot of really wonderful
experience at a plethora of artsorganizations.
I worked for the Santa FeChamber Music Festival, I did
(01:52):
work for BW itself, some localplaywrights in the area, or even
before I graduated, my senioryear, my professor, brian Bowser
, had us do an assignment wherewe had to fake apply for a job,
(02:16):
and the job I fake applied forwas the manager of education and
community engagement at theCanton Symphony Orchestra.
And the twist here is that allof the jobs we fake applied for
were real job postings thatexisted in the world.
And so I did my assignment andI applied for the job.
And then Brian said you shouldactually apply for the job.
(02:36):
And I said well, it says I needfive years of experience, of
which I do not have, and he saidit's a suggestion, you should
go for it.
And so I applied and I got thejobs and I became the manager of
education and communityengagement and that's when I
moved to Canton.
And so I moved to Canton in2019.
(02:57):
Got a little condo in JacksonTownship and I've lived here
ever since.
I loved getting to know thecommunity.
It reminded me a lot of home inOklahoma.
It's a football town and I grewup in a football state, so
there was a lot of similaritiesthere.
And then I've been here throughthe pandemic.
(03:18):
You know, I wasn't even at thesymphony about a year when the
pandemic hit, and then we flurryof activity to figure out how
do we even keep going during apandemic.
And then, after the pandemic Iwas getting I was kind of
itching for something new.
I was really ready to have anew challenge, to try something
different, and so I startedapplying for jobs.
(03:39):
I'm not from here, my parentsaren't here, I didn't have any
family here, and so I was like,well, guess it's time.
(04:02):
And I got a job offer at anorganization in a community of
which I've been, that I've spenta lot of time in already, and
so I ended up throwing my hat inthe ring to become the next
president and CEO and, much tomy surprise I feel like probably
a lot of other people'ssurprise the board ended up
(04:23):
extending me the job offer and I, so I became president, ceo, in
2022.
Yeah, yeah, 2022.
What year is that?
2025.
So, yeah, it's been almost threeyears now and, yeah, it's
really exciting to be here withthe symphony and to do what I
love and to work with amazingpeople and musicians and, um it,
(04:46):
it's crazy how different thingsfeel from when I started in
2019 to now.
Um, it's it, it's a whole newworld.
Um, and it's a really coolthing to be a part of.
Uh, it's a.
I mean, the orchestra.
Is the so amazing for acommunity our size to have an
orchestra this good ismind-boggling.
(05:07):
And, yeah, I'm just reallyblessed to be able to do it and,
yeah, it's wonderful.
We have a great time over here.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I know you do and I just love all those destiny
points that happen.
That is just tremendous.
Yeah a lot so good.
So I have loved all thedifferent ways that you have
combined different organizations, different locations throughout
(05:35):
our community and brought thesymphony into mixing you know
pop music and having it outsideof the box, thinking and
locations.
Where did that all come from?
Did you get inspiration fromother areas that are doing
something similar, like, how didyou come up with some of these?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Sure, yeah, I mean I'm not going to take credit for
everything for sure.
There's a lot of really coolthings that this orchestra does
that's kind of baked into itsDNA and that has been a part of
what we've done for quite awhile as manager of education
and community engagement.
There was a lot of stuff therethat I really worked hard on to
(06:16):
bring into what we do as anorganization.
We average an event every fourdays, which feels insane.
That is I did not realize thatthere's a lot.
I don't think people realizejust how much programming we're
doing at any given time.
I mean, our Listen at theLibrary series happens 10 times
a year At, you know, 10 librarylocations.
(06:37):
We have a youth symphony thatperforms three times a year and
there's three ensembles.
So there's you know how doesthat math work Nine other
performers.
You know it's you just.
It adds up really fast with thenumber of things that we do and
a lot of the reason we can getaway with doing this much stuff.
One is that we're, like yousaid, going to different places
(06:59):
and being in different locationsand doing things really
intentionally Because we realizesometimes symphony can feel
like a weird sell to people.
It doesn't feel modern, itdoesn't feel relevant.
I it very much is modern andrelevant and I'll talk about why
, but I it there are a lot ofways to meet people where
(07:20):
they're at and that can bethrough the music that we play
or the spaces where we are.
Um and so in our likeeducational community programs,
we've moved a lot of things intothe library system and our
libraries have been an amazingpartner, and please support your
local library and get a librarycard.
Um and uh, combining earlylearning with, with, with
(07:40):
reading and um, you know.
So there's been a lot of reallyfun, fun programs that we've
done there.
We do our.
You know our summer serenadeseries in the parks has been
happening for a long time.
And support your Stark Parks,support your local park system.
There's a levy coming up.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yes, there is.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
It's really important that we fund these things in
our community and we get to doawesome music in the parks
through the Stark Parks seriesand they've been such a
wonderful partner and in recentyears us and Stark Parks have
worked with other parks branchesas well, like the Canton Park
System, which has the levycoming up, and so that going to
(08:22):
physical different places inStark County.
Another thing that youmentioned was this kind of genre
, kind of crossing things thatwe do.
We do two kind of main serieswhere that happens.
We have our Employers HealthPops series where it's pops
which is not a, you know, not anew thing.
A lot of orchestras do what wecall pops programming, and pops
(08:44):
just is slang for popularmeaning.
It has a much wider spread ofpopularity than maybe our
traditional orchestral canondoes and this is where we get to
do fun things like the music ofQueen and this year we're doing
the music of Pink Floyd and wedo our holiday pop show where
people get to enjoy the holidayswith sing-alongs and holiday
(09:07):
music.
That is just kind of fun forthe whole family and something
in this series that I think wedo that is just kind of fun for
the whole family and somethingin this series that I think we
do that is very unique is we'vein the past few recent years
worked with local bands or bandsof a different genre and
arranged their music for thefull orchestra.
So we have two amazingarrangers, Steve and Kevin, who
(09:29):
take the music of these bandsand arrange them to include the
whole entire symphony and it'ssuper duper fun.
We've gotten to work with theLabra Brothers and the Vendys
and the Steel Wheels in thiscapacity and this coming season
we're going to be working withMacy Gray I was just actually
just looking at her set listbefore this.
I'm not going to say what it is, but you know figuring out
(09:51):
those details with her and herteam and with the arrangers, and
it's really fun.
That's a fun niche that not alot of orchestras do and as an
organization we take that a stepfurther and actually predating
the pop series I think I forgetthe exact timeline on this
(10:11):
Before I joined the symphony westarted a series called
Divergent Sounds, the DivergentSounds series, which, on the day
we're recording our firstDivergent Sounds series, is
tonight for this season and sosorry if you missed it.
We work with local musicians, somusicians who maybe don't have
as big of a spread as some ofthose bands I mentioned before.
(10:34):
You know, macy Gray is prettybig, but people who are
incredibly talented localmusicians who have all sorts of
genres of music and we arrangetheir music.
Kevin Martinez does thearrangements for their music and
then four of our symphonymusicians.
So the bands pick what fourinstruments they want to have
with them and it's just addingto what they do.
(10:55):
And we do that downtown at theOracle.
So Josh Brewer and then Nick,his brother, to sound Yep.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
And they no relation to me.
We always joke that we'rerelated.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I know I'm like the Brewers, everyone's.
It's so much fun and it's.
I think we've started torealize how unique that series
is and how really cool it isthat we're able to celebrate and
lift up other genres of music,and other musicians are an
orchestral organization, but Ithink, even more at the core,
(11:34):
what we strive to do is to makemusic accessible and to make
music, to lift up musicians, tomake live music something that
our community values and caresabout, and we do that through
the medium of orchestra.
But we also want to becelebrating our hip-hop artists.
(11:55):
We want to be celebrating ourcountry singers and our rock and
our pop musicians and all ofthese amazing, talented people
who just happen to play adifferent genre of music than us
.
I highly encourage you to cometo a Divergent concert at some
point after this airs.
The next one is October 23rd.
(12:16):
I think that feels right.
It's on Thursday.
Whatever the Thursday in the20s of October is, gary Sirach's
band is going to be playing,and it's going to be super duper
fun.
So that's, you know, some ofthe stuff that we do.
We work with so many differentpeople, though, and it takes a
giant village, it takes thewhole community to make what we
do happen.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
So, oh, I love that so much and I love that people
don't realize Macy Gray isactually from Canton.
Yes, and so I love that littleconnection, but that's going to
be phenomenal.
Oh my gosh, so cool, so cool.
I love that you're sharing,just like you said, all of the
different genres and bringingthat to other people that may
(12:58):
not have realized that you cantie in orchestral music, and I
think that that I can't imaginearranging some of that for an
orchestra, and it's a lot ofwork.
Yeah, that is a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
That's that's why we're already planning Macy's
set list for a concert that'shappening in May.
Now you have to.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I'm sure, yeah, that is, that's phenomenal.
Yeah, oh my gosh.
So have you tried to do somethings that you're like, oh,
this is going to work out great?
And you're like, oh, we'regonna have to pivot, we're to
have to change.
I mean, were there things thatwere kind of like, oh, I thought
that this was going to go alittle bit better, but now we're
going to do something different.
And what's been the mostsuccessful?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Sure, you know it's interesting.
So we have to plan so far out.
Yeah, as an organization Idon't think people realize I'm
thinking about the 26, 27 seasonright now.
Right, like I'm planning thatright now and we haven't even
started our 25-26 season Becausewe have to think.
I mean we have to think so farout about, okay, what dates is
(14:01):
the hall available?
We have to get guest artistsand their schedules fill up.
You know there's so many movingparts and pieces.
We're on the Hall of FameVillage campus.
I got to coordinate with themfor their concerts.
The school has football gamesthey got to do.
We got to make sure that Idon't want to be on the same
night as Akron Symphony, so wegot to make sure we're on
different nights.
It's a whole fun puzzle that wedo.
(14:23):
And so when it comes topivoting, yes, there are certain
things that we can pivot, butwhen it comes to the content and
the concert, we kind of have to.
Whatever we stick with, wereally kind of have to do.
We get kind of trapped in, notto say we couldn't change on a
dime if we needed to, butbecause we plan so far in
(14:43):
advance we have to redefine whatwe think success is.
And as we go into a concert wedo a lot of pivoting with other
things that we can control.
So sometimes a success for usis not necessarily a sold out
crowd, it's this wasartistically really fulfilling
for everyone.
And we're not going to makemoney on this concert.
(15:04):
We just to spoiler alert, wedon't usually make money on
concerts.
We usually lose quite a bit ofmoney on concerts.
They are very expensive and inorder for us to make money on a
concert we would have to chargeabout $400 a ticket which no
one's going to pay for whenwe're not going to do that.
You know an orchestra is notcheap.
(15:26):
We usually spend between$35,000 and $75,000 just on
musicians for each concert, plusthe marketing, plus the guest
artists, plus you know.
So they're very expensiveconcerts and so it's not.
How much money did we make?
You know, for example, we justdid a collaboration with the
(15:47):
Players Guild and we didHunchback of Notre Dame in
concert and it was a big musical, full chorus, full orchestra,
full cast, very expensive, right.
And ticket sales were.
They were pretty good.
They were almost 800 peoplethere, which is great.
It's amazing.
I budgeted to have more peoplecome, but it happened to be on
(16:08):
the same weekend as Porch Rockerin Akron and I know that took a
lot of attention.
You know things, so thingshappen, but artistically it was
maybe one of the best thingswe've ever done, right, and so
how exciting is that?
And so what success looks likefor us has to change and be a
little bit different.
And there's so much stuffbehind the scenes that sometimes
the crowd is, oh my gosh,amazing.
(16:30):
So many people are there,everyone loves it.
And behind the scenes we'relike this was rough.
This was a rough one becausethere's just so many moving
parts backstage.
Our marketing team shifts a lotleading up to a concert.
If things are going really,really well, we'll pull
marketing.
They're like we don't need tomarket, like we've got the
people we need.
Let's save some money here,we'll put it on something else,
(16:53):
or okay, this video is doingreally well, all of this other
money, we're pouring it all intothis video, right?
So it's it really depends.
I think some of the mostsuccessful things we've done
didn't necessarily have the mostpeople there.
You know, last year our SteelWheels concert our musicians
(17:14):
said this was their favoritePops concert they'd ever done.
Wow, that's a huge success,yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
It wasn't an orchestra concert, and they
loved it.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I'm like, yeah, we did it Right, like that.
You know it had less than 800people there, right?
So it wasn't the most soldthing we'd ever done, but the
musicians had such a good time,so that's amazing.
And then sometimes we do stuffand it is sold out and we're
like, yes, we've done it.
So I don't know, it's hard tosay Fingers crossed.
(17:41):
I don't have to do any giantpivots ever, but there have been
some really challenging thingsas an organization where we have
had to pick it.
Covid, everyone knows that.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I don't need to say that one.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I'm very proud of us as an organization over the past
two years In 2023, weunexpectedly lost our music
director.
He passed away really suddenlyand we had to figure out what
does that look like for us?
And we're now doing a musicdirector search and so over the
next two years, we're going tobe working with a million
conductors.
Basically it feels like andfiguring out who our next
(18:14):
artistic leader is going to be.
That's a huge.
That makes planning a littletricky A little, but it's
exciting, it's super fun andyeah, it's it's a really
exciting time to be here.
So.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Wow, thank you for all that transparency.
I mean, that's amazing to sharethat and let people realize the
impact that their support hason what you do and how that can
shift, just by supporting whatyou do and showing up at all the
other locations and all thethings that you're doing and
realizing how much work goesinto it and how lucky we are
(18:48):
that you're here.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I mean yeah.
Ticket sales cover aboutone-fifth of our operating costs
.
Wow, so we have to raise.
I mean we have to raise so muchmoney each year.
We have to raise I mean, wehave to raise so much money each
year and that's through amazingsponsors, that's through grants
, that's through, just you know,donors, and so support and
volunteers gosh, it takes about25 volunteers to make a concert
(19:10):
happen every single time.
Wow, so like we have an army ofvolunteers that just like make
it happen for us.
So yeah, there was so manymoving parts and pieces and it's
yeah it.
We really rely on the communitynot just to show up, but to
support us in a lot of otherways so that we can keep doing
it.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Right.
So I know you have a big eventcoming up in about a week.
Can you share a little bit?
Speaker 2 (19:33):
about that event.
Yeah, we're kicking off thewhole season, so our 25-26
season is called when OurStories Meet and the kind of
idea behind this season.
You know, every season we'replaying music.
We've done it, but this seasonfelt just with the content and
talking with our musicians andour board.
(19:54):
This season is really abouttelling a lot of stories,
telling the stories of ourcommunity, bringing in diverse
voices from a lot of differentbackgrounds to share in this
medium of music making, in bothof our Masterworks series, which
has seven concerts, and ourPops series, which has three
concerts, and there's adifferent conductor, every
(20:15):
concert conductor, every concert.
There's all these differentamazing guest artists.
And we're kicking it off onOctober 4th with our first
Masterworks concert called SixStrings and a Symphony, and it
features a guitar concerto, itfeatures a Beethoven symphony
and it's during HispanicHeritage Month and we're going
(20:39):
to have a taco truck outside sopeople can get food beforehand.
And the ballet is going to bedoing a pre-concert performance
at 7 pm, like before the show,so you can come, you can get a
taco and then you can watch theballet, and then you can get a
drink and then you can watch thesymphony.
It's going to be a whole nightand we're so excited to kick it
off night.
(21:02):
And we're so excited to kick itoff and we really want the
community to feel celebrated butalso really want to invite the
community into what we're doingso that they can help us tell
the story of who we arethroughout this whole season,
because we've got so manyamazing concerts this year.
I'm usually there's like oneconcert a year where I'm like
it's fine, it's fine I.
There's not one of those thisyear.
I'm truly actually excitedabout like every single concert
(21:23):
we're doing and this it's soexciting the music that's being
played and the guest conductorsand guest artists that are
coming in.
And Meng Su's playing theguitar concerto.
She's going to be working withCanton City School guitar
students at a library event onThursday, october 2nd.
You can register for that.
That's a free event with thelibrary system.
(21:43):
She's going to be doing a masterclass with them.
So they're going to play forher and she's going to help them
out, and then those studentswill be in the lobby before the
concert.
So you can hear it's going tobe fun.
So much is going on and we'revery excited.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
So, yeah, oh, I love all that layering.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah, there's a lot.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah, that's wonderful, though I mean,
there's just so many reasons foryou to attend and get to
experience the different pointsand, oh, it's just wonderful.
I love that.
Oh, my goodness.
So I know you said you'vealready.
I know we're going into the2526 season, but you're planning
27.
Do you have some highlights fornext year and what's coming up
(22:23):
after the fourth?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah.
So I mean, this whole season is, like I said, full of amazing
stuff.
I think probably some of thebiggest highlights that, God,
how do I even narrow down?
That, God, how do I even narrowdown?
Joanne Folletta is a belovedconductor that we love and she
(22:49):
is just phenomenal and she'sconducted the orchestra before
and she's going to be here onNovember 1st.
We're playing Romeo and Juliet,which is a classic and it's
hard not to love it, and that'sin later November, before
Thanksgiving.
We're doing Young Person'sGuide to the Orchestra in
January.
It's still a Masterworks, butit's our family-friendly show,
so it's at 3 pm instead of 7.30.
(23:11):
Okay, and so it's a littleeasier on the bedtime.
Smart, we're doing YoungPerson's Guide to the Orchestra
and we're having a young personbe our guide.
So Avery Ellis.
She's 16.
She's going to narrate it foryou and kind of take you through
the orchestra and that'll besuper duper fun.
Her mom, Joy, directed our twocollaborations with the Players
(23:32):
Guild.
She directed Hunchback andRagtime and she's phenomenal,
and so we're really excited thatAvery is going to be with us.
And she's phenomenal, and sowe're really excited that Avery
is going to be with us.
We're doing a really cool photochoreography project for our
Masterworks 5, which is anAlpine Symphony in February.
So photo choreography we'reasking the community.
So if you're a community personwho likes to take photos or
(23:54):
just has photos that you want tosubmit, please, you can go to
our website.
You'll find where to submit.
We're asking people to submitphotos of their experiences in
nature and then some Canton Cityschool students and Ben Myers
are going to put that togetherand time it to the music that
will be played and so people cancome and see their photos timed
to the music and that's goingto be in February.
(24:16):
I love that.
It will be super duper fun andit's a long piece.
It's like 50 something minuteslong.
So we need a lot of photos.
So, submit your photos.
We're really excited about that.
We're doing Brahms Requiem,full Orchestra, chorus.
That'll be lovely, very classic, lovely Requiem.
(24:37):
And then our last Masterworksconcert is 250th anniversary of
america.
There's a lot of america 250stuff happening, um, and this
concert, francesco lecce chong,who's the guest conductor,
francesco, put together justsuch a cool program that I will
say, if you're not supermusically savvy with orchestral
(24:58):
music, it's hard to know whyit's so cool.
But, um, I'll try to be briefwith it.
Uh, there's four amazing pieces.
Um, all of them tell a reallyunique version of an american
story.
Uh, we've got amy beach's ballmosque.
Amy beach was a female, thefirst female american composer
that we really know.
Um, and you know, her story waslike amazing composer husband
(25:20):
didn't allow her to composewhile he was alive, so the only
orchestral pieces we have by herare really before, before she
got married and then after herhusband died, and so it was hard
for her to share her voice.
And we do get to hear a littlebit here.
And then we've got SamuelBarber's violin concerto, which
is such a beautifully somberit's a little somber very
(25:41):
serious violin concerto whichyou don't really get with violin
concertos very often.
Then we're doing JesseMontgomery's Hymn for Everyone,
which the first four notes arethe first four notes of the
Black National Anthem.
Lift Every Voice and Sing andit's just a really beautiful
telling of music being foreveryone.
And then the last piece isAaron Copland's Tenderloin Suite
(26:04):
, which is not the Aaron Coplandthat most people know.
Most people would like Rodeo orsomething like that, but this
suite is just gorgeous.
It's beautiful and it tells thestory of Americans living
through the Great Depression andgetting through on the other
side, and so it's a beautifulconcert, just like.
So it's so well programmed andit's just really exciting.
(26:29):
And so like that's in theMasterwork season, but then also
Macy Gray's coming, that's inMay.
That's going to be so much fun.
We're going to have a greattime.
We're doing the music of PinkFloyd Amazing.
And then our holiday pop show.
We're doing two of them.
We haven't done two shows ofanything in a while.
Usually we have one night only.
Yeah, we're doing two holidaypop shows because the last two
(26:49):
years it got sold out.
So it's going to be so yeah,get your tickets.
So I know that wasn't veryshort winded, that was a little
long winded.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
No, I appreciate it.
I appreciate all theinformation.
Your passion is infectious.
You can tell how much thismeans to you, and everything
that you explained was just.
It just gets me excited aboutlearning more and understanding
the depth of the reasons of whythose pieces were chosen and how
(27:19):
diverse everything is and it'sjust.
I appreciate that, so so much.
So.
I think that that was wonderful.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Don't apologize for sharing that.
Thank you, yeah, it's exciting.
There's so much cool stuff.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Oh, so how can everyone find if they're not
local?
Do you record any of these thatthey can listen to or find
outside of our area?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Sure, so if you aren't local, we don't have a
ton of stuff available forrecording, but we are going to
be releasing some stuff.
I don't have a timeline on that, that's okay.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
That's okay.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
We do have a YouTube channel.
We have our own podcast whereyou can listen to our podcast,
orchestrating Change.
There's also a lot ofeducational content that we have
available online for peoplethat you can go and be a part of
.
There also are some videos thatwe have posted, but we are
working on quite a few videoprojects right now from things
we have recorded in the pastthat we can release, and just
(28:20):
copyright laws are weird ittakes a lot of investigation to
figure out what's allowed.
But we do have a YouTube channeland our website.
But for those who are local,you know, being here in person
and being at the concert um, youcan purchase a subscription to
the symphony.
So you can subscribe and getall seven masterworks, all three
(28:40):
pops or both.
You can get subscriptions toboth series comes with a big
discount on tickets, some perks,um, lots of fun stuff and
guaranteed seats.
So if there's seats that youreally like like that's the view
I want you can get asubscription.
Uh, for the masterwork series,you need to do it before
Masterworks 1, which is on the4th, so follow this week.
And for the POP series, thoughthat doesn't start until
(29:02):
December, so you'll have a whileif you're interested in the POP
series.
But our website iscantonsymphonyorg Easy peasy.
All of our info is there.
We have a very active socialmedia Facebook, instagram.
There's a TikTok.
Now I don't know what'shappening on it, but Sarah did
tell me we have a TikTok.
Oh, sarah, I love it.
(29:23):
So we also, if you have a youngperson in your life, a lot of
educational content.
Almost all of it is free.
Our Youth Symphonyphony programis tuitioned, but we have youth
symphony students over ahundred of them at three
different levels.
They come from 10 differentcounties to be a part of youth
(29:44):
symphony.
So if you have a young personwho plays an instrument and
wants to be a part of youthsymphony, we take auditions
throughout the year.
I don't know, there's probablysome instruments that are full,
but there are some instrumentswhere we're still taking
auditions and you can find thatinformation on the website as
well.
So, yeah, there's so much stuff.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Oh, I didn't even think about how you joined the
symphony as a musician.
That's amazing.
How do you do it as an adult?
Speaker 2 (30:09):
So if you're interested, in auditioning for
the symphony.
So we are a fully professionalunioned orchestra.
So we have, we have I don't wejust did auditions, so I forget
the number of contract playerswe have right now but we, our
musicians, come from all overthe country to play with us.
(30:29):
Our tuba player lives inAlabama, One of our
percussionists lives in LA.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
We have a lot of people who live in New England.
This is something.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
A lot of 60-something contract players to live in
Stark County.
Most of them live in Cleveland,pittsburgh, and they're
professional musicians that playin a lot of orchestras.
But we do auditions about oncea year and all the information's
on the website.
So if you're interested inauditioning um, it's pretty
(31:01):
intense.
This is a very high qualityorchestra and this year I got to
be more involved in auditionsthan normal, which was super fun
for I got to listen.
It is super cool to to hear allthese amazing musicians and our
music.
Our musicians are fabulous andthey're just they.
They work so hard even thoughthey're only here, sometimes
(31:23):
four times a year.
Right, like they don't, they'renot here very often, but they
care so much and they reallywork to make it the highest
quality orchestra possible.
So, yeah, there's there's somuch to be involved in and you
can always call us.
We're happy to answer questionsif you just want to call us.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Oh my gosh, I have learned so, so much.
I had no idea about thosepositions and being union and I
love the schedule coming up andI hope this helps so much with
getting the word out aboutvolunteers and people finding
out about what you do even more.
Thank you so so much forjoining me today.
(32:01):
I really appreciate it.
I'm so excited for everythingthat you're doing and I love the
support that you're givingother organizations in the arts
community and I personally wantto do more, so you have me
coming on board to do whatever Ipersonally want to do more, so
you have me coming on board todo whatever I can as well.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yay, well, thank you so much.
It's been just so much fun chat.
Obviously, I like to talk aboutit, so I'm grateful that you
let me chit chat about it today.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Oh well, thanks, rachel.
I will see you at a performancesoon.
I promise Amazing, yay, thanks.
Welcome back to a new episode of Brutally Made.
I am so excited to bring to youour local Canton Symphony
Orchestra President and CEO,Rachel Hagemeyer.
Thank you so much for taking amoment of your busy, busy
schedule to be with me today andshare everything that our
(00:26):
symphony is doing in thecommunity.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you so much for having me Very excited to be
here with you and your wonderful, bright and amazing personality
and space and everything.
It's just so lovely.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Oh, you're very kind.
Thank you so much.
I just love how much that youhave evolved the symphony to be
partners with so many wonderfulorganizations in the community
and the arts emphasis that youhave created.
So I would love for you toshare a little bit about your
journey to the position that youhave, because you are just such
(01:02):
a wonderful influence in thisarea and I want to share that
with the world.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, so I have.
It's probably a shorter storythan other people, but I am
originally from Oklahoma.
I was born in Kansas, raised inOklahoma, but I've been in Ohio
now for over 10 years.
I went to school at the BaldwinWallace Conservatory of Music
(01:30):
and I got degrees in bassoon,performance and arts
administration, and when you putthat together you run a
symphony.
So I got those degrees and Idid that wonderful arts
administration program and got alot of really wonderful
experience at a plethora of artsorganizations.
I worked for the Santa FeChamber Music Festival, I did
(01:52):
work for BW itself, some localplaywrights in the area, or even
before I graduated, my senioryear, my professor, brian Bowser
, had us do an assignment wherewe had to fake apply for a job,
(02:16):
and the job I fake applied forwas the manager of education and
community engagement at theCanton Symphony Orchestra.
And the twist here is that allof the jobs we fake applied for
were real job postings thatexisted in the world.
And so I did my assignment andI applied for the job.
And then Brian said you shouldactually apply for the job.
(02:36):
And I said well, it says I needfive years of experience, of
which I do not have, and he saidit's a suggestion, you should
go for it.
And so I applied and I got thejobs and I became the manager of
education and communityengagement and that's when I
moved to Canton.
And so I moved to Canton in2019.
(02:57):
Got a little condo in JacksonTownship and I've lived here
ever since.
I loved getting to know thecommunity.
It reminded me a lot of home inOklahoma.
It's a football town and I grewup in a football state, so
there was a lot of similaritiesthere.
And then I've been here throughthe pandemic.
(03:18):
You know, I wasn't even at thesymphony about a year when the
pandemic hit, and then we flurryof activity to figure out how
do we even keep going during apandemic.
And then, after the pandemic Iwas getting I was kind of
itching for something new.
I was really ready to have anew challenge, to try something
different, and so I startedapplying for jobs.
(03:39):
I'm not from here, my parentsaren't here, I didn't have any
family here, and so I was like,well, guess it's time.
(04:02):
And I got a job offer at anorganization in a community of
which I've been, that I've spenta lot of time in already, and
so I ended up throwing my hat inthe ring to become the next
president and CEO and, much tomy surprise I feel like probably
a lot of other people'ssurprise the board ended up
(04:23):
extending me the job offer and I, so I became president, ceo, in
2022.
Yeah, yeah, 2022.
What year is that?
2025.
So, yeah, it's been almost threeyears now and, yeah, it's
really exciting to be here withthe symphony and to do what I
love and to work with amazingpeople and musicians and, um it,
(04:46):
it's crazy how different thingsfeel from when I started in
2019 to now.
Um, it's it, it's a whole newworld.
Um, and it's a really coolthing to be a part of.
Uh, it's a.
I mean, the orchestra.
Is the so amazing for acommunity our size to have an
orchestra this good ismind-boggling.
(05:07):
And, yeah, I'm just reallyblessed to be able to do it and,
yeah, it's wonderful.
We have a great time over here.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
I know you do and I just love all those destiny
points that happen.
That is just tremendous.
Yeah a lot so good.
So I have loved all thedifferent ways that you have
combined different organizations, different locations throughout
(05:35):
our community and brought thesymphony into mixing you know
pop music and having it outsideof the box, thinking and
locations.
Where did that all come from?
Did you get inspiration fromother areas that are doing
something similar, like, how didyou come up with some of these?
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Sure, yeah, I mean I'm not going to take credit for
everything for sure.
There's a lot of really coolthings that this orchestra does
that's kind of baked into itsDNA and that has been a part of
what we've done for quite awhile as manager of education
and community engagement.
There was a lot of stuff therethat I really worked hard on to
(06:16):
bring into what we do as anorganization.
We average an event every fourdays, which feels insane.
That is I did not realize thatthere's a lot.
I don't think people realizejust how much programming we're
doing at any given time.
I mean, our Listen at theLibrary series happens 10 times
a year At, you know, 10 librarylocations.
(06:37):
We have a youth symphony thatperforms three times a year and
there's three ensembles.
So there's you know how doesthat math work Nine other
performers.
You know it's you just.
It adds up really fast with thenumber of things that we do and
a lot of the reason we can getaway with doing this much stuff.
One is that we're, like yousaid, going to different places
(06:59):
and being in different locationsand doing things really
intentionally Because we realizesometimes symphony can feel
like a weird sell to people.
It doesn't feel modern, itdoesn't feel relevant.
I it very much is modern andrelevant and I'll talk about why
, but I it there are a lot ofways to meet people where
(07:20):
they're at and that can bethrough the music that we play
or the spaces where we are.
Um and so in our likeeducational community programs,
we've moved a lot of things intothe library system and our
libraries have been an amazingpartner, and please support your
local library and get a librarycard.
Um and uh, combining earlylearning with, with, with
(07:40):
reading and um, you know.
So there's been a lot of reallyfun, fun programs that we've
done there.
We do our.
You know our summer serenadeseries in the parks has been
happening for a long time.
And support your Stark Parks,support your local park system.
There's a levy coming up.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Yes, there is.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
It's really important that we fund these things in
our community and we get to doawesome music in the parks
through the Stark Parks seriesand they've been such a
wonderful partner and in recentyears us and Stark Parks have
worked with other parks branchesas well, like the Canton Park
System, which has the levycoming up, and so that going to
(08:22):
physical different places inStark County.
Another thing that youmentioned was this kind of genre
, kind of crossing things thatwe do.
We do two kind of main serieswhere that happens.
We have our Employers HealthPops series where it's pops
which is not a, you know, not anew thing.
A lot of orchestras do what wecall pops programming, and pops
(08:44):
just is slang for popularmeaning.
It has a much wider spread ofpopularity than maybe our
traditional orchestral canondoes and this is where we get to
do fun things like the music ofQueen and this year we're doing
the music of Pink Floyd and wedo our holiday pop show where
people get to enjoy the holidayswith sing-alongs and holiday
(09:07):
music.
That is just kind of fun forthe whole family and something
in this series that I think wedo that is just kind of fun for
the whole family and somethingin this series that I think we
do that is very unique is we'vein the past few recent years
worked with local bands or bandsof a different genre and
arranged their music for thefull orchestra.
So we have two amazingarrangers, Steve and Kevin, who
(09:29):
take the music of these bandsand arrange them to include the
whole entire symphony and it'ssuper duper fun.
We've gotten to work with theLabra Brothers and the Vendys
and the Steel Wheels in thiscapacity and this coming season
we're going to be working withMacy Gray I was just actually
just looking at her set listbefore this.
I'm not going to say what it is, but you know figuring out
(09:51):
those details with her and herteam and with the arrangers, and
it's really fun.
That's a fun niche that not alot of orchestras do and as an
organization we take that a stepfurther and actually predating
the pop series I think I forgetthe exact timeline on this
(10:11):
Before I joined the symphony westarted a series called
Divergent Sounds, the DivergentSounds series, which, on the day
we're recording our firstDivergent Sounds series, is
tonight for this season and sosorry if you missed it.
We work with local musicians, somusicians who maybe don't have
as big of a spread as some ofthose bands I mentioned before.
(10:34):
You know, macy Gray is prettybig, but people who are
incredibly talented localmusicians who have all sorts of
genres of music and we arrangetheir music.
Kevin Martinez does thearrangements for their music and
then four of our symphonymusicians.
So the bands pick what fourinstruments they want to have
with them and it's just addingto what they do.
(10:55):
And we do that downtown at theOracle.
So Josh Brewer and then Nick,his brother, to sound Yep.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
And they no relation to me.
We always joke that we'rerelated.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I know I'm like the Brewers, everyone's.
It's so much fun and it's.
I think we've started torealize how unique that series
is and how really cool it isthat we're able to celebrate and
lift up other genres of music,and other musicians are an
orchestral organization, but Ithink, even more at the core,
(11:34):
what we strive to do is to makemusic accessible and to make
music, to lift up musicians, tomake live music something that
our community values and caresabout, and we do that through
the medium of orchestra.
But we also want to becelebrating our hip-hop artists.
(11:55):
We want to be celebrating ourcountry singers and our rock and
our pop musicians and all ofthese amazing, talented people
who just happen to play adifferent genre of music than us
.
I highly encourage you to cometo a Divergent concert at some
point after this airs.
The next one is October 23rd.
(12:16):
I think that feels right.
It's on Thursday.
Whatever the Thursday in the20s of October is, gary Sirach's
band is going to be playing,and it's going to be super duper
fun.
So that's, you know, some ofthe stuff that we do.
We work with so many differentpeople, though, and it takes a
giant village, it takes thewhole community to make what we
do happen.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
So, oh, I love that so much and I love that people
don't realize Macy Gray isactually from Canton.
Yes, and so I love that littleconnection, but that's going to
be phenomenal.
Oh my gosh, so cool, so cool.
I love that you're sharing,just like you said, all of the
different genres and bringingthat to other people that may
(12:58):
not have realized that you cantie in orchestral music, and I
think that that I can't imaginearranging some of that for an
orchestra, and it's a lot ofwork.
Yeah, that is a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
That's that's why we're already planning Macy's
set list for a concert that'shappening in May.
Now you have to.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
I'm sure, yeah, that is, that's phenomenal.
Yeah, oh my gosh.
So have you tried to do somethings that you're like, oh,
this is going to work out great?
And you're like, oh, we'regonna have to pivot, we're to
have to change.
I mean, were there things thatwere kind of like, oh, I thought
that this was going to go alittle bit better, but now we're
going to do something different.
And what's been the mostsuccessful?
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Sure, you know it's interesting.
So we have to plan so far out.
Yeah, as an organization Idon't think people realize I'm
thinking about the 26, 27 seasonright now.
Right, like I'm planning thatright now and we haven't even
started our 25-26 season Becausewe have to think.
I mean we have to think so farout about, okay, what dates is
(14:01):
the hall available?
We have to get guest artistsand their schedules fill up.
You know there's so many movingparts and pieces.
We're on the Hall of FameVillage campus.
I got to coordinate with themfor their concerts.
The school has football gamesthey got to do.
We got to make sure that Idon't want to be on the same
night as Akron Symphony, so wegot to make sure we're on
different nights.
It's a whole fun puzzle that wedo.
(14:23):
And so when it comes topivoting, yes, there are certain
things that we can pivot, butwhen it comes to the content and
the concert, we kind of have to.
Whatever we stick with, wereally kind of have to do.
We get kind of trapped in, notto say we couldn't change on a
dime if we needed to, butbecause we plan so far in
(14:43):
advance we have to redefine whatwe think success is.
And as we go into a concert wedo a lot of pivoting with other
things that we can control.
So sometimes a success for usis not necessarily a sold out
crowd, it's this wasartistically really fulfilling
for everyone.
And we're not going to makemoney on this concert.
(15:04):
We just to spoiler alert, wedon't usually make money on
concerts.
We usually lose quite a bit ofmoney on concerts.
They are very expensive and inorder for us to make money on a
concert we would have to chargeabout $400 a ticket which no
one's going to pay for whenwe're not going to do that.
You know an orchestra is notcheap.
(15:26):
We usually spend between$35,000 and $75,000 just on
musicians for each concert, plusthe marketing, plus the guest
artists, plus you know.
So they're very expensiveconcerts and so it's not.
How much money did we make?
You know, for example, we justdid a collaboration with the
(15:47):
Players Guild and we didHunchback of Notre Dame in
concert and it was a big musical, full chorus, full orchestra,
full cast, very expensive, right.
And ticket sales were.
They were pretty good.
They were almost 800 peoplethere, which is great.
It's amazing.
I budgeted to have more peoplecome, but it happened to be on
(16:08):
the same weekend as Porch Rockerin Akron and I know that took a
lot of attention.
You know things, so thingshappen, but artistically it was
maybe one of the best thingswe've ever done, right, and so
how exciting is that?
And so what success looks likefor us has to change and be a
little bit different.
And there's so much stuffbehind the scenes that sometimes
the crowd is, oh my gosh,amazing.
(16:30):
So many people are there,everyone loves it.
And behind the scenes we'relike this was rough.
This was a rough one becausethere's just so many moving
parts backstage.
Our marketing team shifts a lotleading up to a concert.
If things are going really,really well, we'll pull
marketing.
They're like we don't need tomarket, like we've got the
people we need.
Let's save some money here,we'll put it on something else,
(16:53):
or okay, this video is doingreally well, all of this other
money, we're pouring it all intothis video, right?
So it's it really depends.
I think some of the mostsuccessful things we've done
didn't necessarily have the mostpeople there.
You know, last year our SteelWheels concert our musicians
(17:14):
said this was their favoritePops concert they'd ever done.
Wow, that's a huge success,yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
It wasn't an orchestra concert, and they
loved it.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I'm like, yeah, we did it Right, like that.
You know it had less than 800people there, right?
So it wasn't the most soldthing we'd ever done, but the
musicians had such a good time,so that's amazing.
And then sometimes we do stuffand it is sold out and we're
like, yes, we've done it.
So I don't know, it's hard tosay Fingers crossed.
(17:41):
I don't have to do any giantpivots ever, but there have been
some really challenging thingsas an organization where we have
had to pick it.
Covid, everyone knows that.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I don't need to say that one.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I'm very proud of us as an organization over the past
two years In 2023, weunexpectedly lost our music
director.
He passed away really suddenlyand we had to figure out what
does that look like for us?
And we're now doing a musicdirector search and so over the
next two years, we're going tobe working with a million
conductors.
Basically it feels like andfiguring out who our next
(18:14):
artistic leader is going to be.
That's a huge.
That makes planning a littletricky A little, but it's
exciting, it's super fun andyeah, it's it's a really
exciting time to be here.
So.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Wow, thank you for all that transparency.
I mean, that's amazing to sharethat and let people realize the
impact that their support hason what you do and how that can
shift, just by supporting whatyou do and showing up at all the
other locations and all thethings that you're doing and
realizing how much work goesinto it and how lucky we are
(18:48):
that you're here.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I mean yeah.
Ticket sales cover aboutone-fifth of our operating costs
.
Wow, so we have to raise.
I mean we have to raise so muchmoney each year.
We have to raise I mean, wehave to raise so much money each
year and that's through amazingsponsors, that's through grants
, that's through, just you know,donors, and so support and
volunteers gosh, it takes about25 volunteers to make a concert
(19:10):
happen every single time.
Wow, so like we have an army ofvolunteers that just like make
it happen for us.
So yeah, there was so manymoving parts and pieces and it's
yeah it.
We really rely on the communitynot just to show up, but to
support us in a lot of otherways so that we can keep doing
it.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Right.
So I know you have a big eventcoming up in about a week.
Can you share a little bit?
Speaker 2 (19:33):
about that event.
Yeah, we're kicking off thewhole season, so our 25-26
season is called when OurStories Meet and the kind of
idea behind this season.
You know, every season we'replaying music.
We've done it, but this seasonfelt just with the content and
talking with our musicians andour board.
(19:54):
This season is really abouttelling a lot of stories,
telling the stories of ourcommunity, bringing in diverse
voices from a lot of differentbackgrounds to share in this
medium of music making, in bothof our Masterworks series, which
has seven concerts, and ourPops series, which has three
concerts, and there's adifferent conductor, every
(20:15):
concert conductor, every concert.
There's all these differentamazing guest artists.
And we're kicking it off onOctober 4th with our first
Masterworks concert called SixStrings and a Symphony, and it
features a guitar concerto, itfeatures a Beethoven symphony
and it's during HispanicHeritage Month and we're going
(20:39):
to have a taco truck outside sopeople can get food beforehand.
And the ballet is going to bedoing a pre-concert performance
at 7 pm, like before the show,so you can come, you can get a
taco and then you can watch theballet, and then you can get a
drink and then you can watch thesymphony.
It's going to be a whole nightand we're so excited to kick it
off night.
(21:02):
And we're so excited to kick itoff and we really want the
community to feel celebrated butalso really want to invite the
community into what we're doingso that they can help us tell
the story of who we arethroughout this whole season,
because we've got so manyamazing concerts this year.
I'm usually there's like oneconcert a year where I'm like
it's fine, it's fine I.
There's not one of those thisyear.
I'm truly actually excitedabout like every single concert
(21:23):
we're doing and this it's soexciting the music that's being
played and the guest conductorsand guest artists that are
coming in.
And Meng Su's playing theguitar concerto.
She's going to be working withCanton City School guitar
students at a library event onThursday, october 2nd.
You can register for that.
That's a free event with thelibrary system.
(21:43):
She's going to be doing a masterclass with them.
So they're going to play forher and she's going to help them
out, and then those studentswill be in the lobby before the
concert.
So you can hear it's going tobe fun.
So much is going on and we'revery excited.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
So, yeah, oh, I love all that layering.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah, there's a lot.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah, that's wonderful, though I mean,
there's just so many reasons foryou to attend and get to
experience the different pointsand, oh, it's just wonderful.
I love that.
Oh, my goodness.
So I know you said you'vealready.
I know we're going into the2526 season, but you're planning
27.
Do you have some highlights fornext year and what's coming up
(22:23):
after the fourth?
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah.
So I mean, this whole season is, like I said, full of amazing
stuff.
I think probably some of thebiggest highlights that, God,
how do I even narrow down?
That, God, how do I even narrowdown?
Joanne Folletta is a belovedconductor that we love and she
(22:49):
is just phenomenal and she'sconducted the orchestra before
and she's going to be here onNovember 1st.
We're playing Romeo and Juliet,which is a classic and it's
hard not to love it, and that'sin later November, before
Thanksgiving.
We're doing Young Person'sGuide to the Orchestra in
January.
It's still a Masterworks, butit's our family-friendly show,
so it's at 3 pm instead of 7.30.
(23:11):
Okay, and so it's a littleeasier on the bedtime.
Smart, we're doing YoungPerson's Guide to the Orchestra
and we're having a young personbe our guide.
So Avery Ellis.
She's 16.
She's going to narrate it foryou and kind of take you through
the orchestra and that'll besuper duper fun.
Her mom, Joy, directed our twocollaborations with the Players
(23:32):
Guild.
She directed Hunchback andRagtime and she's phenomenal,
and so we're really excited thatAvery is going to be with us.
And she's phenomenal, and sowe're really excited that Avery
is going to be with us.
We're doing a really cool photochoreography project for our
Masterworks 5, which is anAlpine Symphony in February.
So photo choreography we'reasking the community.
So if you're a community personwho likes to take photos or
(23:54):
just has photos that you want tosubmit, please, you can go to
our website.
You'll find where to submit.
We're asking people to submitphotos of their experiences in
nature and then some Canton Cityschool students and Ben Myers
are going to put that togetherand time it to the music that
will be played and so people cancome and see their photos timed
to the music and that's goingto be in February.
(24:16):
I love that.
It will be super duper fun andit's a long piece.
It's like 50 something minuteslong.
So we need a lot of photos.
So, submit your photos.
We're really excited about that.
We're doing Brahms Requiem,full Orchestra, chorus.
That'll be lovely, very classic, lovely Requiem.
(24:37):
And then our last Masterworksconcert is 250th anniversary of
america.
There's a lot of america 250stuff happening, um, and this
concert, francesco lecce chong,who's the guest conductor,
francesco, put together justsuch a cool program that I will
say, if you're not supermusically savvy with orchestral
(24:58):
music, it's hard to know whyit's so cool.
But, um, I'll try to be briefwith it.
Uh, there's four amazing pieces.
Um, all of them tell a reallyunique version of an american
story.
Uh, we've got amy beach's ballmosque.
Amy beach was a female, thefirst female american composer
that we really know.
Um, and you know, her story waslike amazing composer husband
(25:20):
didn't allow her to composewhile he was alive, so the only
orchestral pieces we have by herare really before, before she
got married and then after herhusband died, and so it was hard
for her to share her voice.
And we do get to hear a littlebit here.
And then we've got SamuelBarber's violin concerto, which
is such a beautifully somberit's a little somber very
(25:41):
serious violin concerto whichyou don't really get with violin
concertos very often.
Then we're doing JesseMontgomery's Hymn for Everyone,
which the first four notes arethe first four notes of the
Black National Anthem.
Lift Every Voice and Sing andit's just a really beautiful
telling of music being foreveryone.
And then the last piece isAaron Copland's Tenderloin Suite
(26:04):
, which is not the Aaron Coplandthat most people know.
Most people would like Rodeo orsomething like that, but this
suite is just gorgeous.
It's beautiful and it tells thestory of Americans living
through the Great Depression andgetting through on the other
side, and so it's a beautifulconcert, just like.
So it's so well programmed andit's just really exciting.
(26:29):
And so like that's in theMasterwork season, but then also
Macy Gray's coming, that's inMay.
That's going to be so much fun.
We're going to have a greattime.
We're doing the music of PinkFloyd Amazing.
And then our holiday pop show.
We're doing two of them.
We haven't done two shows ofanything in a while.
Usually we have one night only.
Yeah, we're doing two holidaypop shows because the last two
(26:49):
years it got sold out.
So it's going to be so yeah,get your tickets.
So I know that wasn't veryshort winded, that was a little
long winded.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
No, I appreciate it.
I appreciate all theinformation.
Your passion is infectious.
You can tell how much thismeans to you, and everything
that you explained was just.
It just gets me excited aboutlearning more and understanding
the depth of the reasons of whythose pieces were chosen and how
(27:19):
diverse everything is and it'sjust.
I appreciate that, so so much.
So.
I think that that was wonderful.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Don't apologize for sharing that.
Thank you, yeah, it's exciting.
There's so much cool stuff.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Oh, so how can everyone find if they're not
local?
Do you record any of these thatthey can listen to or find
outside of our area?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Sure, so if you aren't local, we don't have a
ton of stuff available forrecording, but we are going to
be releasing some stuff.
I don't have a timeline on that, that's okay.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
That's okay.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
We do have a YouTube channel.
We have our own podcast whereyou can listen to our podcast,
orchestrating Change.
There's also a lot ofeducational content that we have
available online for peoplethat you can go and be a part of
.
There also are some videos thatwe have posted, but we are
working on quite a few videoprojects right now from things
we have recorded in the pastthat we can release, and just
(28:20):
copyright laws are weird ittakes a lot of investigation to
figure out what's allowed.
But we do have a YouTube channeland our website.
But for those who are local,you know, being here in person
and being at the concert um, youcan purchase a subscription to
the symphony.
So you can subscribe and getall seven masterworks, all three
(28:40):
pops or both.
You can get subscriptions toboth series comes with a big
discount on tickets, some perks,um, lots of fun stuff and
guaranteed seats.
So if there's seats that youreally like like that's the view
I want you can get asubscription.
Uh, for the masterwork series,you need to do it before
Masterworks 1, which is on the4th, so follow this week.
And for the POP series, thoughthat doesn't start until
(29:02):
December, so you'll have a whileif you're interested in the POP
series.
But our website iscantonsymphonyorg Easy peasy.
All of our info is there.
We have a very active socialmedia Facebook, instagram.
There's a TikTok.
Now I don't know what'shappening on it, but Sarah did
tell me we have a TikTok.
Oh, sarah, I love it.
(29:23):
So we also, if you have a youngperson in your life, a lot of
educational content.
Almost all of it is free.
Our Youth Symphonyphony programis tuitioned, but we have youth
symphony students over ahundred of them at three
different levels.
They come from 10 differentcounties to be a part of youth
(29:44):
symphony.
So if you have a young personwho plays an instrument and
wants to be a part of youthsymphony, we take auditions
throughout the year.
I don't know, there's probablysome instruments that are full,
but there are some instrumentswhere we're still taking
auditions and you can find thatinformation on the website as
well.
So, yeah, there's so much stuff.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Oh, I didn't even think about how you joined the
symphony as a musician.
That's amazing.
How do you do it as an adult?
Speaker 2 (30:09):
So if you're interested, in auditioning for
the symphony.
So we are a fully professionalunioned orchestra.
So we have, we have I don't wejust did auditions, so I forget
the number of contract playerswe have right now but we, our
musicians, come from all overthe country to play with us.
(30:29):
Our tuba player lives inAlabama, One of our
percussionists lives in LA.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
We have a lot of people who live in New England.
This is something.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
A lot of 60-something contract players to live in
Stark County.
Most of them live in Cleveland,pittsburgh, and they're
professional musicians that playin a lot of orchestras.
But we do auditions about oncea year and all the information's
on the website.
So if you're interested inauditioning um, it's pretty
(31:01):
intense.
This is a very high qualityorchestra and this year I got to
be more involved in auditionsthan normal, which was super fun
for I got to listen.
It is super cool to to hear allthese amazing musicians and our
music.
Our musicians are fabulous andthey're just they.
They work so hard even thoughthey're only here, sometimes
(31:23):
four times a year.
Right, like they don't, they'renot here very often, but they
care so much and they reallywork to make it the highest
quality orchestra possible.
So, yeah, there's there's somuch to be involved in and you
can always call us.
We're happy to answer questionsif you just want to call us.
Speaker 1 (31:39):
Oh my gosh, I have learned so, so much.
I had no idea about thosepositions and being union and I
love the schedule coming up andI hope this helps so much with
getting the word out aboutvolunteers and people finding
out about what you do even more.
Thank you so so much forjoining me today.
(32:01):
I really appreciate it.
I'm so excited for everythingthat you're doing and I love the
support that you're givingother organizations in the arts
community and I personally wantto do more, so you have me
coming on board to do whatever Ipersonally want to do more, so
you have me coming on board todo whatever I can as well.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yay, well, thank you so much.
It's been just so much fun chat.
Obviously, I like to talk aboutit, so I'm grateful that you
let me chit chat about it today.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Oh well, thanks, rachel.
I will see you at a performancesoon.
I promise Amazing, yay, thanks.
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