Something old, something new
Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra blending education, music in April concerts
By Diana Nollen for the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra
A swing and a miss in 2016 sent the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra back to its Ottumwa dugout to hatch a new game plan.
It seems a Masterworks concert was no match for the Chicago Cubs playing in the World Series finale. So a father-son duo on the orchestra’s Ottumwa Chapter board pitched a new program that would evolve into the annual Ruth P. Seim Memorial Concert for a Cause, in which area school ensembles are invited to perform during intermission of the orchestra’s spring Masterworks concert in Ottumwa. The school in the spotlight then receives the bulk of that day’s ticket sales.
This year’s invited guest is the Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont Concert Band, directed by Dezirae Fairchild of Oskaloosa. The band will perform in the 2 p.m. April 27 concert in Ottumwa’s Bridge View Center. The band’s varied program, lasting about 10 minutes, will feature “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked,” “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” and the jazz standard, “In the Mood.”
While the Concert for a Cause is exclusive to Ottumwa, the orchestra’s repertoire also will be presented that weekend in the ensemble’s other “home” venues: 7:30 p.m. April 26 at The Capitol in Burlington and 6:30 p.m. April 27 at The Chapel Auditorium in Mount Pleasant.
Admission is $20 for adults and free for students, to help remove barriers for young people to attend, Music Director Robert McConnell said. He also will lead a free pre-concert discussion in each concert hall 45 minutes before the performances.
For tickets and details, go to www.seiso.us/upcomingperformances.