FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Lancaster Symphony Orchestra Showcasing the Beloved Masters in Its 2008-2009 “Only in Lancaster” Season.

LANCASTER, PA -- Music director Stephen Gunzenhauser has extended an invitation to a few good friends for the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra’s 2008-2009 season. Joining the maestro in a season that opens October 3, 2008, will be music by such beloved masters as Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Rimsky-Korsakov.

But “Only in Lancaster” will these renowned composers be joined by other stellar composers and world acclaimed guest artists. Across 33 performances, the “Only in Lancaster” season will treat its audiences to an array of powerful music by a talented orchestra and invited soloists.

“This is the quintessential, ‘Only in Lancaster’ season,” said Gunzenhauser. “It couples masterworks of the world’s greatest composers with some of the most poignant and accessible musical selections never heard by our audience.  “Our ability to bring this extraordinary repertoire forward reaffirms that our audience in Lancaster is like no other, anywhere.”

The Symphony’s season will include a six-concert Classic Series, an Audience Requests program, a Sounds of the Season holiday program and a New Year’s Eve celebration.

Fittingly, the opening concert of the season showcases “The Masters: Beethoven &
Mozart,” on October 3, 4 and 5, 2008. The concert weekend will feature Beethoven’s joyful Symphony No. 7 and Mozart’s effervescent Symphony No. 32.

The Symphony’s opening weekend will also include Jenö Hubay’s romantic Violin Concerto No. 3, a playground for the violin pyrotechnics of internationally acclaimed guest violinist, Hagai Shaham.

Audiences will be in for an out-of-this-world musical experience November 14, 15 and 16, 2008, when the Symphony invites them to “Celebrate the Planets.” Together with the Lancaster Symphony Women’s Chorus, the orchestra will perform Gustav Holst’s The Planets. This suite of astronomical proportions will mark NASA’s 50th anniversary.

Always a favorite, the Lancaster Symphony Chorus and guest vocalists will also be a part of the November 14-16 weekend. Comprised of the region’s premier vocalists and top choral students from Millersville University and Franklin & Marshall and Elizabethtown colleges, the Chorus will join the Orchestra in the world premiere of Miguel del Aguila’s soulful chorus of joyous affirmation, Choral Suite No. 2.

William B. Wright, PhD, professor of choral music at Franklin & Marshall College, will be premiering as the new Lancaster Symphony Orchestra chorus master.

Families will capture the holiday spirit December 18, 19, 20 and 21, 2008, as the Sounds of the Season concert weekend returns to Franklin & Marshall College. The Lancaster Symphony Chorus will also perform in a concert of carols, unforgettable music, sing-alongs and more.

Central Pennsylvania’s favorite way to begin its New Year’s Eve celebration December 31, 2008, will bring Roby Lakatos, the enchanting Hungarian Gypsy violin king, to the American Music Theatre. Together with the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Lakatos and his five-piece Gypsy ensemble will be the perfect party complement to noisemakers and champagne toast. Classically trained at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest, the Gypsy violin king first learned to play within the heart of his own family, direct descendants of the legendary violin dynasty of Janos Bihari. The evening promises to be an “Only in Lancaster” event for the ages.

The first program of the New Year will sizzle with “Stravinsky’s Firebird” January 16, 17 and 18, 2009. Stravinsky’s upbeat flight of fantasy will be complemented by Zoltán Kodály’s rich Dances of Galanta. The five performances that weekend will also spotlight “one of the real Titans of the keyboard” (Joel Harrison, American Pianists Association artistic director), as pianist Michael Sheppard performs Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

Love will fill the air for the Symphony’s Valentine’s concert weekend February 20, 21 and 22, 2009. The “Feel the Passion” concert weekend will feature Tchaikovsky’s sensuous Serenade for Strings. In striking contrast to this sweet love song will be Rodion Shchedrin/Georges Bizet’s raw and passionate Carmen Suite.

Mozart will make his second appearance of the 2008-2009 season when he returns April 3, 4 and 5, 2009, for “Mozart & the Cellist.” The concert weekend will
showcase one of his best and most beloved creations, the light, graceful and intensely emotional Symphony No. 40.

Joining the Austrian master for the weekend will be rising cello virtuosa, Allison Eldredge, performing Victor Herbert’s deeply moving Cello Concerto No. 2.

On April 17, 18 and 19, 2009, the Lancaster Symphony will offer its popular Audience Requests concert weekend. With evening performances Friday and Saturday nights and matinees Saturday and Sunday, the Audience Requests program of light classics and pops will been chosen by ballots cast by concertgoers earlier in the season.

The Symphony’s 2008-2009 season will close in classic “Only in Lancaster” style

May 22, 23 and 24, 2009, with “Rachmaninoff & 1001 Arabian Nights.” Rachmaninoff’s flamboyant, playful side, infused with warmth and sophistication, will be displayed in Piano Concerto No. 1. Internationally distinguished pianist Santiago Rodríguez will display his immense talents in a climactic signature of the Russian master.

The Orchestra and its principal players will have their own opportunities to dazzle
audiences with virtuosity in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. This colorfully orchestrated work will evoke haunting images of Arabian nights of adventure, magic and raw human emotion.

At the same closing program, John Alden Carpenter’s Krazy Kat will provide an
added treat with his high-spirited pantomime of the classic comic strip, wrapped in jazz and Tin Pan Alley.

The 2008-2009 season will include the presentation of the Symphony’s annual Composer’s Award and a Lancaster premiere of the winning composer’s work.

The Symphony’s Classic Concert Series and its popular Audience Requests concerts will be performed at the historic Fulton Opera House at 12 North Prince Street in Downtown Lancaster. Ample parking is available adjacent to the Fulton and at the Prince Street garage.

Friday’s opening night performances begin at 8 pm. All Saturday concerts commence at 3 pm and 8 pm. Sunday night concerts will be performed at 7:30 pm.

Free “Meet the Music” previews of each concert are held an hour before each performance at the Fulton. A “Meet the Musicians” reception will follow every Friday night concert in the Fulton lobby. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres will be served, and a cash bar will be open.

The Sounds of the Season concerts at F&M’s Barshinger Center for the Musical Arts will begin at 7:30 pm Thursday and Friday, December 18 and 19, 2008. Two 3 pm matinees will be performed Saturday, December 20 and Sunday, December 21. Barshinger Center is located on College Avenue on the F&M campus in Lancaster.

The Symphony’s New Year’s Eve Celebration will open at 7 pm on December 31st at American Music Theatre. The theatre is located on Lincoln Highway East/Route 30 in Lancaster, across from Rockvale Square.

Subscriptions to the 2008-2009 Classic Concert Series and Sunday Matinee Series, as well as discounted subscriber tickets for the New Year’s Eve Celebration and Audience Requests concerts, are on sale now by calling the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra at (717) 291-4420. Subscription prices range from $92 to $288, a savings of as much as 20 percent over single ticket prices.

There is an additional $10 or $12 per subscription surcharge for Classic Concert Series subscriptions. These moneys are paid directly to the Fulton Opera House for the Fulton Historic Preservation Fund to repay funds loaned by the City of Lancaster to help with the 1995 renovation of the National Historic Landmark.

Classic Concert Series subscribers receive other benefits, including 10 percent
discounts on dining at many area restaurants before and after concerts, free ticket exchanges and 20 percent off the purchase of additional Symphony single tickets.

Underwriting the Lancaster Symphony’s 2008-2009 season will be Willow Valley Associates and Willow Valley Retirement Communities as season sponsors. Season travel sponsor is Travel Time. Open Rehearsals With Lido sponsor is Highmark Blue Shield.


Sound Discovery sponsor is Lancaster General. Sponsoring its Classic Concert Series are Clermont Wealth Strategies at Fulton Bank, Electron Energy Corporation, Elizabethtown College, Franklin & Marshall College, Millersville University, TriStarr Staffing and PNC. Encore hospitality sponsor will be the Fenz Restaurant. First Look hospitality sponsor will be Carr’s Restaurant. Ticket sponsor is Wiley’s Pharmacy.

The 2008-2009 “Only in Lancaster” season marks Maestro Stephen Gunzenhauser’s
28th year as the creative leader of the Symphony. He took the Symphony’s baton in 1980. The Grammy-nominated musician also led the Delaware Symphony for 23 years. In 2004, he served as artistic advisor and principal conductor for the Bogota Philharmonic Orchestra. He maintains a regular guest-conducting schedule in Bogota and with symphony orchestras all over the world. The prolific conductor has made 66 recordings and sold over 2 million CDs.

Opening its 61st season, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra has evolved from a community orchestra into an organization of professional musicians serving 52,000 music enthusiasts with 28 yearly subscription concerts, a family holiday concert, a New Year’s Eve gala celebration, a spring Audience Requests concert weekend and a free, outdoor community patriotic concert.

The Lancaster Symphony Orchestra is a 75-member, professional orchestra that was founded in 1947 by Frederick S. Klein and John H. Peifer, Jr. from Franklin & Marshall College.

The orchestra is a non-profit organization, governed by a board of 30 community volunteers and managed by a professional staff under the direction of president and chief executive officer M. Scott Robinson. Ticket sales revenues and donations from hundreds of corporate and private benefactors underwrite the Symphony’s invaluable contribution to the quality of life in south central Pennsylvania.