Symphony on South Bass Island
8/30/2007The Toledo Symphony launches its 2007-2008 performance season with a free outdoor pops concert at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 8 at Perry's Victory and International Peace Monument in Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island. Conductor Chelsea Tipton II will lead the symphony in patriotic favorites - including Richard Rodgers' Victory at Sea, and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, as well as music from classic and contemporary theater and movie scores.
Amateurs and professionals alike can play the same pianos on which Vladimir Horowitz and Van Cliburn built their careers or tickle the ivories of Rhapsody, the instrument built by Steinway to commemorate George Gershwin's centennial, when the University of Toledo hosts Steinway & Sons Legendary Pianos Tour on Sept. 11. The day is to begin at 9 a.m. with a lecture-recital in the UT Center for Performing Arts by Louis Nagel, piano professor at the University of Michigan. Following the lecture, which ends at 11:30 a.m., the pianos will be available for use by pianists from the community. Appointments are required for 30-minute keyboard sessions; they can be made by calling Brian Sampson of Hammell Music, the Michigan Steinway dealership that is presenting the tour in conjunction with UT and the Toledo Piano Teachers Association. Appointments: 1-800-588-0040.
South American harpist Alfredo Rolando Ortiz will be on the Owens Community College campus Sept. 9 for classes and workshops as well as a free public concert at 7 p.m. in the Center for Fine and Performing Arts. Ortiz, a native of Cuba, now lives in California, where he devotes his life to promulgating the South American style of harp playing. Ortiz records, writes, and composes music, as well as teaches and performs around the world. Classes are to run between 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday; reservations are necessary. Information is available at www.owens.edu or by calling 567-661-2787.
Auditions for the Toledo Ballet production of The Nutcracker are set for Sept. 8 at the company headquarters at Westfield Franklin Park. St. Louis Ballet artistic director Gen Horiuchi will choreograph the 2007 production, and TBA school director Lisa Mayer will stage it. Audition times are 11 a.m. to noon for ages 5 to 8, 12:30 to 2 p.m. for ages 9 to 11, 2:15 to 3:45 p.m. for ages 12 to 15, and 4 to 5:30 p.m. for ages 16 and up. Dancers who are not Toledo Ballet students may also audition for placement in the company during the final audition time. Information: 419-471-0049.
Send news of classical music, dance, choral, and opera events to svallongo@theblade.com.