GO Arts » Symphony

Tacoma Symphony launches new kids’ series with “Peter and the Wolf,” both in the Rialto Theater and at Joint Base Lewis McChord

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:48:21 +0000

Kids need classical music – we’re all familiar with the studies that repeatedly show how much it improves grades, test scores, teamwork, concentration and behavior. But sometimes it’s hard to get them to live concerts, due to programming, timing, location or cost. The Tacoma Symphony, in partnership with Ted Brown Music and the University of Puget Sound Community Music department, is taking up the challenge by developing its once-a-year family concert into a series of four weekend afternoon shows at various venues which explore the four different instrumental sections of the orchestra with music kids will love. And …

Muscly virtuosity from Leon Bates and atmospheric playing from Tacoma Symphony make a pleasant, if not thrilling, season opener

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 19:33:58 +0000

It seemed like the perfect combination for a season opening: a jazzy first half, a terrific pianist, a new piece and an ocean-themed centerpiece. But despite some impressive playing, the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra’s concert last Saturday in the Pantages was less thrilling than it might have been, thanks to Leon Bates’ relentless keyboard attack, some balance issues and Debussy’s “La Mer” falling a little short of opening-night grandeur.

All was well for the first piece, Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture,” which the TSO played with rhythmic aplomb (after an initial rockiness in the percussion) and a smooth big-band sound from …

Tacoma Symphony Orchestra takes to the sea for its season opener with Leon Bates this Saturday at the Pantages

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:45:05 +0000

The Tacoma Symphony might be launching into a creative and unusual season this year including video game music, new compositions and a double bass concerto (watch the GO cover in November for the story) but for the season opener this Saturday at the Pantages it’s straight-down-the-line Gershwin and Debussy, featuring bodybuilding pianist Leon Bates as soloist and taking its theme from the ocean.

Bates will play in the Gershwin half of the program, playing the jazz composer’s Concerto in F after the orchestra opens with the Cuban Overture. Known both for fiery, energetic performances and his two-hour-a-day dedication …

It’s official: Friday is Northwest Sinfonietta Day, says Governor Gregoire

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:21:35 +0000

Goodness knows we don’t need any more official “days” (“Walk Your Dog Day,” “Brush Your Teeth Day”) but this one is actually well-deserved. This Friday has been officially proclaimed Northwest Sinfonietta Day in the state of Washington by Governor Christine Gregoire, and it’s largely because of the supreme effort this local orchestra has made in creating a musical bond with a chamber orchestra in Tacoma’s sister city of Cienfuegos, Cuba. (You can read the main story here.)

For the last two years Sinfonietta director Neil Birnbaum has been working hard alongside congressman Norm Dicks, senator Maria Cantwell and …

Tacoma Symphony Orchestra grant doubles endowment; another allows new development position

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 18:53:02 +0000

The Tacoma Symphony Orchestra is the recipient of two new grants totaling $554,000, one effectively doubling the organization’s endowment and the other allowing the formation of a new position to develop the orchestra’s patronage, executive director Andy Buelow announced this week.

A $419,000 gift from the estate of George A. Lagerquist, pledged 13 years ago, was recently given in completion to the Tacoma Symphony, for whose endowment fund it was earmarked. Lagerquist, who died in 2003, had made the pledge in 1999 in honor of his wife Mary, who died unexpectedly last year. A trustee and benefactor of …

Beethoven’s triumphant Ninth Symphony closes the season for Tacoma Symphony Orchestra this Saturday at the Pantages Theater

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:38:56 +0000

The Tacoma Symphony Orchestra and chorus and prominent local soloists join forces Saturday night for the season finale, a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9, the “Choral.” One of the most beloved and influential pieces in all Western classical music, the symphony includes the famous fourth movement “Ode to Joy.” A contemporary piece written about the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks and a Strauss waltz complete the program, held at Tacoma’s Pantages Theater.

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was the composer’s last, written in 1824 when he was already deaf. After a stunning premiere it went on to take its place …

Pianist Regina Yeh to break long concert drought with concerto appearance with Tacoma Symphony

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:34:31 +0000

Seattle pianist and former Pacific Lutheran University faculty member Regina Yeh will perform Chopin’s Piano Concerto no. 2 this Sunday with the Tacoma Symphony at the Rialto Theater – her first concerto appearance with the symphony and her first public performance in several months.

Yeh, a young Taiwanese-born American prize-winning pianist who has been on the faculty of both the University of Washington and PLU and is a champion of new and East-West collaborative music, last performed in Tacoma at a Second City Chamber Series concert in November 2010. Noted for her “fiery musicality,” Yeh teaches privately in …

Cellist Soo Bae to perform with TSO

Craig Sailor — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:16:32 +0000

A celebrated Korean-Canadian cellist is making her debut with Tacoma Symphony Orchestra for the group’s 2009-2010 concert season finale.

Cellist Soo Bae will perform Antonin Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with the TSO.

Bae won the 2005 Concert Artists Guild International Competition.

How do fifth-graders listen to an orchestra? With open ears.

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:56:40 +0000

If you’re down by the Pantages today, tomorrow and Thursday, you’ll probably notice all the buses transporting thousands of schoolkids. They’re downtown listening to the Tacoma Symphony’s annual Simply Symphonic concerts.

So there’s nothing particularly new about orchestras giving schools concerts, but the TSO’s program is admirable in both academic reach and sheer size. Around 4,500 fifth-graders from 82 schools and 13 districts in the South Sound–up 12 per cent from last season–will hear the orchestra play Offenbach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Bach and more this week. It’s a program that recently won the TSO The 2009 Impact Award from The

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Yee-haw! Tacoma Symphony goes West

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Up Country duo Kevin Neil and Ray Mann. Photo courtesy Tacoma Symphony.

The folks at Tacoma Symphony are expanding their POPS series. In January it was Andrew Lloyd Webber faves, and this weekend they’re heading into Country, with a capital C. The orchestra will back the duo Up Country (guitarist Kevin Neil and bassist/drummer Ray Mann) in “Into the West,” a program of greatest country hits: "Don’t Fence Me In," "Hey, Good Lookin’,” "I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You)," "Ragtime Cowboy Joe," "The Tennessee Waltz," "Ghost Riders in

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