Symphony season starts

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Posted November 26, 2021 | By Jennifer Hunt Murty

After an especially lengthy hiatus due to COVID-19, the Ocala Symphony Orchestra (OSO) opened its 2021 season last Saturday evening to an especially enthusiastic audience, grateful to gather again for a live performance.

Despite the interruption, some things felt like they hadn’t changed.

Conductor Matt Wardell’s jokes were still funny. Executive Director for the Reilly Arts Center Pamela Wardell’s welcome was still gracious. All the familiar faces from the local art and music scenes were there. The performance ambitious.

The Reilly Center used its downtime during the pandemic to expand, adding a black box theater and a new, larger lobby. Following the opening night performance, supporters of the symphony were invited to see some of the unfinished spaces of the expansion firsthand as the black box theater was converted into an after party venue.

If the experience of 2020 left anything good in its wake, it was a renewed appreciation for the privilege of being able to safely gather and experience a live performance as a community.

Here is the lineup for the rest of the OSO season:

Pops! Goes the Holidays

Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 5, 3 p.m.

Back by popular demand, the OSO will bring Howard Blake’s score to the animated short film, “The Snowman,” to life, along with the film, sleigh rides, sing-alongs, and, possibly, a reading of “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

The Four Temperaments

Jan. 29, 7:30 p.m. and Jan. 30, 3 p.m.

Raymond Chobaz leads the orchestra through Nielsen’s Symphony No. 2, “The Four Temperaments,” a new work by award-winning composer, Paul Richards, and Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with special guest, Kevin Sharpe.

90 Years of John Williams

Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 20, 3 p.m.

Celebrate John Williams’ 90th birthday with a review of his extensive film catalogue, including scores from “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter,” “The Patriot,” “Superman,” “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Indiana Jones,” “Jaws,” and more.

The Unfinished

March 19, 7:30 p.m. and March 20, 3 p.m.

Winners of the Young Artist Competition take the stage with the OSO, along with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Ballade” and Schubert’s B-minor symphony, “The Unfinished.”

21st Century Anthology

April 9, 7:30 p.m. and April 10, 3 p.m.

Maestro Wardell is often asked, “What works written today will be played in 100 years?” This concert is his answer and will feature Missy Mazzoli’s tribute to the city of Detroit, “River Rouge Transfiguration”; Michael Daugherty’s piece in memory of his father, “Reflections on the Mississippi for Tuba and Orchestra”; and Mason Bates’s “The Anthology of Fantastic Zoology,” which will showcase every section of the orchestra, as he musically illustrates the fantastical creatures of Jorge Luis Borges’s 1957 “Book of Imaginary Beings.”

Special Events

Symphony Under the Lights

Presented by Jenkins Auto Group

Dec. 3, 7 p.m.

The OSO and Ocala Youth Symphony offer a joyful annual concert that is free and open to the public. Enjoy hot chocolate under the ancient oaks of Tuscawilla Park and bring a blanket or chair.

Bowie and Glass Return

March 5, 7:30 p.m.

The OSO and Voltron Collective bring you Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 4 “Heroes,” juxtaposed with the David Bowie songs that inspired it. Originally presented in spring of 2019, this has been the OSO’s most requested repeat concert.

Handel’s “Messiah”

April 24, 3 p.m.

Choirmaster and conductor, Joshua Mazur, returns to lead the combined orchestra and choir through “Messiah” and selections from “Water Music.”