December 20, 2021

Yesterday’s Holiday Pops with the Lansing Symphony was a wonderful time. Lansing’s own Travis Leon shared his fabulous vocal talents with us ranging from Handel’s “Comfort Ye” to “White Christmas” and he delivered! The audience loved him. It is always exciting to feature our local talent.
 
For me an “un-sung” star of the show was an arranger named Jim Stephenson. We did several works from his catalog, and they are some of the freshest and most engaging holiday arrangements I have encountered. I heard many comments from the orchestra players themselves about how great the arrangements sounded and how much they enjoyed playing them. It was obvious the audience enjoyed them too.
 
I am very excited about what’s next on my calendar, and that is the Lansing Symphony’s January Masterworks. Cellist Suren Bagratuni will join us in Shostakovich’s First Concerto, and I can’t wait. Suren is a truly wonderful musician with whom I have been looking forward to working for some time now, and I have a feeling Shostakovich is right in his “wheelhouse” as they say.
 
That program will open with a work by our Composer-in Residence, Patrick Harlin, called River of Doubt, a highly evocative work inspired by Teddy Roosevelt’s treacherous excursion down the Amazon. The work features soundscapes collected by Patrick’s on his own trip down that storied river (accompanied by his wife, and fellow composer, Audrey). It is a work unlike any other, and one that I know will engage the audience in a powerful way.
 
NEXT UP
 
LANSING SYMPHOHY ORCHESTRA
Suren Bagratuni, cello
January 14, 2022
Wharton Center
 
HARLIN            River of Doubt
SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Concerto No. 1
DVORAK          Symphony No. 6
 
#SurenBagratuni #Patrickharlin #TeddyRoosevelt #TravisLeon #LansingSymphony #JamesStephenson