by Pete Rosenbery
CARBONDALE, Ill. — An exciting lineup is ahead as the Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra’s 2022-23 season gets underway this fall.
The five-concert series features performances from October through April mostly at Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Shryock Auditorium. Two of the concerts — Oct. 28 and April 4 — will help introduce listeners to a range of classics of various eras from such composers as Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the romantic era with Johannes Brahms, Antonín Dvořák and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and into the 20th and 21st centuries with works from George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and others.
The symphony will open its season with a smaller ensemble performing music of Joseph Haydn, Mozart, Brahms and Aaron Copland at 7 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship, 105 N. Parrish Lane. Concert proceeds will benefit a local charity for people without homes.
A Nov. 15 concert featuring the SIU Concert Choir and Choral Union will include excerpts from Handel’s “Messiah”. The highlight of the symphony season will be Feb. 18 at Shryock Auditorium and Feb. 19 at the Marion Cultural and Civic Center with Beethoven’s monumental “Ninth Symphony.” The orchestra will be joined by the SIU Concert Choir, members of four community college choirs, elite Chicago-area string players and four nationally prominent operatic soloists.
The Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra, which includes SIU faculty and students along with talented community musicians and professionals from the region, has been providing high-quality musical entertainment in Southern Illinois since 1903.
Edward Benyas, SISO music director and SIU oboe professor, and Jackson Love, a teaching assistant with the School of Music, will conduct most of the performances. Susan Davenport, professor and director of choral activities in the School of Music will conduct the Nov. 15 concert.
All performances in Shryock Auditorium begin at 7 p.m.; the Feb. 19 performance at the Marion Cultural and Civic Center starts at 2 p.m.
Performances include:
- 11, 7 p.m.— Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship. Features Haydn Symphony No. 8; Mozart Piano Concerto, K. 271 (Jackson Love on piano); Copland’s “Old American Songs” (featuring Nyghél Byrd, baritone, from Carbondale) and Brahms Serenade No. 2.
- 28,7 p.m.— Shryock Auditorium. The Halloween Family Concert features is part 1 of the symphony’s introduction to orchestral masterpieces from the Baroque era to our time, especially designed for families. The works will include the “William Tell Overture,” Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” and Aleksandr Borodin “Polovtsian Dances.” And since it’s close to Halloween, the orchestra and audience members are encouraged to come in costume.
- 15, 7 p.m. — Shryock Auditorium. The symphony accompanies the SIU Concert Choir and Choral Union in Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria” and excerpts from Handel’s “Messiah.”
- 18, 7 p.m. — Shryock Auditorium and Feb. 19, 2 p.m. — Marion Cultural and Civic Center. The symphony, concert choir, four operatic soloists and other select instrumental and vocal artists perform Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9” with a new English translation for the final movement by Carl Lutes, 2015 SIU Distinguished Alumnus.
- April 4, 7 p.m. — Shryock Auditorium. The Spring Family Concert is part 2 of the symphony’s introduction to orchestral masterpieces. The works will include Giuseppe Verdi’s “Triumphal March,” Bernstein’s “West Side Story” and Gershwin’s “American in Paris.”
Season tickets available online
Season tickets are available in advance online through the SIU Ticket Office and exclude the Feb. 19 performance at the Marion Cultural and Civic Center. Season passes are $100 apiece; $85 for patrons under 50 and $40 for students of any age. Individual performance tickets are available only at the door and are $20 for general admission and $10 for students for all but the Feb. 18 Beethoven Symphony No. 9 concert at Shryock Auditorium. Individual tickets for the Feb. 18 concert at Shryock Auditorium and the Feb. 19 performance at the Marion Cultural and Civic Center will be $25 for general admission and $10 for students. Additional ticketing information for the Feb. 19 performance in Marion will be available at marionccc.com. The SISO brochure is also available for viewing.