OLEAN, N.Y. — The Southern Tier Symphony opens its 20th concert series, “Celebrating Masterworks,” this weekend with the first of three concerts featuring the music of three giants of the Romantic period — Richard Wagner, Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Antonín Dvořák.
The symphony will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Regina A. Quick Center at St. Bonaventure University and at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Bromeley Family Theater at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Pa.
Benjamin Grow, returning for his sixth season as music director, said the ensemble is excited to play together again after a difficult previous two years. Although the coronavirus is still at hand, he said the performing arts are going to struggle with the reverberations of the pandemic for a while.
“We have a robust season put together, finally after so long, especially with this program coming up,” he said. “It’s giant masterworks that celebrate the majesty of a full symphony orchestra.”
Kicking off the season with a bang, Grow said the group wanted to play three pieces that are both seminal for symphonies and familiar to a general audience through pop culture. The program includes the overture from Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,” Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture” and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”
“He’s a tunesmith who reaches across the eras,” the director said of Dvořák. “I like a good combination of things for classic music fans and music lovers of any kind.”
WORKING WITH the ensemble for a number of years now, Grow said he enjoys working with the musicians he’s formed friendships with and continuing to build the orchestra while finding new ways to engage and build the audience.
“We have a lot of ideas going forward for the next 20 years on how we can connect more with educators and students and collaborate more with other performing arts organizations,” he said.
For many years the symphony has been hosted by the universities. Grow said their halls for the performances are beautiful spaces and the administrations and staff have been incredibly kind to the ensemble from season to season.
“It feels nice to walk into a beautiful hall with professional services and great acoustics,” he said. “It feels special for us, and we hope it feels special to the audience as well.”
Members of the Southern Tier Symphony come from all walks of life, from music teachers at area high schools and colleges to professional musicians from the region, Grow said. Some of the players are university students while others are retirees who still keep up on their instruments.
“We’re always looking for ways to be more involved with the musicians in the area,” he said. “Although this is a rural place, it’s actually perfectly situated between lots of different cultural hubs. We’re proud to not only draw from local musicians but people from within an hour or so where we perform.”
Grow has worked with a wide array of ensembles in New York City and serves as Principal Conductor of Chelsea Opera, Co-Director/Conductor of the sinfonietta Ensemble Échappé presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been in residence at the Italian Academy at Columbia University.
Grow also served as music director of Tom Cipullo’s acclaimed opera, “Glory Denied,” at the Prince Theater in Philadelphia. He has also conducted studio recordings and workshops for Opera Philadelphia with artists including Frederica von Stade. Recent engagements include concerts with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Grow teaches at The Juilliard School and has been a guest conductor at the Manhattan School of Music. For several years, he co-presented an annual lecture at the 92nd Street Y, “The Physics of Music,” as part of their Mysteries of Science series, and has given pre-concert talks at the Museum of Biblical Art. He received his Bachelor of Music from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and his Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music.
IN ADDITION to his connection with the ensemble, Grow said the Twin Tiers region is beautiful coming from the New York City area, noting the rolling hills and fresh air. Visiting the area since he was a boy, Grow’s father grew up in Bradford and his aunt and uncle retired there.
“At the end of the day, it’s making good music with good musicians. Can’t get any better than that,” he added.
Grow said he hopes nothing but the best for this ensemble and any performance arts group trying to slowly emerge from the quagmire of the past two-plus years. For the Southern Tier Symphony, he said they plan to unveil some of the surprises and ideas for later this season and future seasons soon. He said their fundraising push will begin soon, with collaborations with other artists in the works and a couple of new members on their board.
“We’re looking forward to setting ourselves up for success another 20 years into the future,” he added.
In 2023, Series II will explore the works of Mozart and his contemporaries, and is set for Feb. 11 at SBU and Feb. 12 at UPB. Grow said the concert will feature some of Mozart’s most popular compositions and highlight a number of soloists in the ensemble.
Series III will feature pieces with arrangements by the symphony’s founder, Maestro John Whitney, including some highlights of film scores and Broadway tunes. The concerts, which Grow said will be a fitting celebration of the symphony’s 20 years and some “ear candy,” will be May 6 at SBU and May 7 at UPB.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the door or on the Southern Tier Symphony website southerntiersymph.org and picked up at will call.
Southern Tier Symphony programs are made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, administered by The Arts Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.
