Just as we are sending area youth off to their first days of school (and college) this month, it’s always an exciting time to welcome new seasons of our arts organizations here. They each spend hours of volunteer time contemplating their offerings for the coming year. For the first time this year, the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra will be holding a three-event Free Summer Series.
Because of the record heat in July and travel schedules for musicians and their families, the Summer Series actually begins on Sunday, August 27, 2023. That concert will present the BVSO Percussion Ensemble on the Green at Century Square in College Station. The event will be free although the center itself charges about $5.00 for an hour or two of time, either around the green or over in the garage.
The Percussion Ensemble is led by Sarah Burke, Section Principal, and it will be an unforgettable concert in what will arguably be perfect weather; surely in two weeks it will be cooler and in the evening it will be lovely. Plus, Hopdoddy’s, Blaze Pizza, Sugar’s Candy and other restaurants are within three minutes’ walking distance to supply patrons with dinner to go along with the evening’s entertainment.
The BVSO Strings will debut on Sunday evening, September 17th, and the BVSO Winds will perform on Sunday, October 8. All three summer concerts begin at 6pm. Bring a lawn chair and the entire family and treat them to beautiful, free entertainment by an organization that contains your talented friends, neighbors, and colleagues!
The regular season of the 40th anniversary year will start on October 15th in Rudder Theatre on the TAMU Campus, featuring Martin Garcia playing Beethoven’s Emperor piano concerto No. 5, the overture to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. Mr. Garcia is first place winner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition as well as an international medalist.
On November 5th, three lovely ladies present Illuminations and Glory! In Rudder Theatre. Soprano Bronwen Forbay and Mezzo Soprano Galina Ivannikova join with Soprano Bethany Clearfield for Bach’s Wedding Cantata, Benjamin Britten’s Les Illuminations, and Vivaldi’s Gloria in D Major. The program also incorporates two exceptional groups, the Brazos Valley Chorale and the Texas A&M Century Singers. The evening is special, of course, as it is sponsored by the Clearfield family, longtime anchors of the BV Symphony Society.
Rounding out the Fall will be the Holiday Pops concert on December 10th, at Christ Church in College Station, which features James Faith, Organist, the Christ Church Sanctuary Choir and Canticle Bell Ringers as well as the College Station Varsity Women’s Choir on various future selections for brass, organ, and choir.
In the Spring 2024, two dynamic guitarists, Isaac Bustos and Alejandro Montiel, will perform Carmen Suites No. 1 and 2, the Three Cornered Hat Suite No. 1 by Manuel de Falla and Concierto Madrigal for Two Guitars by Joaquin Rodrigo. Bustos and Montiel are Grammy-nominated artists who bring their gifts to Rudder Theatre on January 21st, 2024.
In time for Valentine’s Day celebrations, the BVSO has an evening with the centerpiece of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition front and center in Rudder Auditorium on February 18th. Adding to the fun will be Debussy’s Clair de lune, Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin, and Villa Lobos’ Bachianas brasileiras No. 2.
BVSO Musical Director and Conductor, Dr. Marcelo Bussiki
On March 24, Brahms’ Hungarian Dances (Symphony No. 4) will be featured programming and feature BVSO’s principal trombone, Brian Logan, for this dynamic evening in Rudder Theatre.
Then, perhaps the season highlight has been set for April 27, Music of the Knights! Featuring the music of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sir Paul McCartney, and Sir Elton John, there’s a better than even chance that every audience member will be able to “name that tune” in five notes or less. It promises to be a magnificent evening of memories that will (hopefully) fill Rudder Auditorium!
Season tickets for all concerts are available for a very affordable $337 or a three-classical concert series for $262; the Holiday Pops are available at $40 each so it’s convenient to support the music in whatever configuration is comfortable for your budget. Of course, the caliber and quality of this outstanding BVSO has not endured and sustained for 40 years without the specific generosity and donation of community members, fellow artists, and local philanthropists, who’ve invested love, sweat, and tears into sustaining this precious artistic crown jewel in our area. Several concerts in the season are specifically underwritten as well.
It’s very easy to take for granted that we have a symphony here in the Texas A&M Community, and yet, it is a more challenging and important accomplishment that we still have one, as even the larger nationally ranked symphony groups have hit the wall financially across the country in trying budgetary times.
Therefore, now more than ever, it is important for us to show our support with our presence at the concerts as well as making the symphony your beneficiary when making special gifts in love and honor or in memory of a loved one. Their love of music will live on through the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra. For more information, or better yet, to join the Brazos Valley Symphony Society, visit their website at www.bvso.org won’t you?
