Indianapolis Summer Concerts

Lucina is a pianist of great accomplishment. At 91 years young, she still teaches several students, performs various two-piano concerts and recitals, and remains very active in the musical community in Indianapolis. She attends many of the ISO’s Coffee Classical performances.
 

Lucina shares her love of music in the community by being generous as well. The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra was the recipient of that generosity this summer, as Lucina purchased a new Steinway Concert Grand Piano and donated it to the Orchestra in memory of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Ball.
 

A generous spirit, the love of music and an association with the Indianapolis Symphony are a part of Lucina’s family history. Lucina’s parents and her late husband, Sam Moxley, served on the ISO’s Board of Directors. When Lucina’s father passed away, her mother gifted two concert Steinway pianos in 1982 as a tribute to him. In 2009, Lucina paid tribute back to her parents by purchasing our Steinway in memory of them.
 

Lucina didn’t just offer to purchase the piano though. She provided us valuable expertise in choosing it! Lucina, pianist Jonathan Biss and ISO President and CEO Simon Crookall traveled to the Steinway studio in New York City this summer to select the piano which would be perfectly suited for the Hilbert Circle Theatre and our orchestra.  Lucina and Jonathan played six of them, and ultimately settled on the beautiful instrument which is now a part of the ISO collection.  Gabriela Montero will play Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on our new Concert Grand this weekend during Opening Night Gala.


Lucina proudly owns and plays her two concert Hamburg Steinways, which she considers her greatest treasures.  Thank you Lucina—your gift of a new Steinway Concert Grand Piano is now one of our greatest treasures too.

It’s nice to have an announcement like this when a season is complete:

Headline: 

INDIANAPOLIS SYMPHONY SETS NEW ATTENDANCE RECORD AT MARSH SYMPHONY ON THE PRAIRIE

Copy:

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra announced that it set a new all-time attendance record of 107,281 for its Marsh Symphony on the Prairie season of outdoor concerts this summer, exceeding the previous mark of 107,245 set in 1999.  (We beat it by 36 people!)

·        Total season attendance of 107,281, the largest full-season crowd to attend the series.

·        Attendance Tops 100,000 Mark for Only 2^nd Time in 28-Year History of Outdoor Series

·        Single night attendance record for a Pops concert featuring the ISO with 8,145 people enjoying the Classical Mystery Tour Beatles Tribute program on Aug. 1

·        Second largest non-July 4 weekend attendance of 14,304 July 31-Aug 1, just missing the all-time record of 14,829 (Aug. 27-29, 1999 - Big Band)

·        Fourth largest single concert attendance of 12,291 on July 3

Although we are proud of our milestones, the Prairie season is more than just facts, figures and statistics. There are stories to tell. Here is just a sample of what occurred this season:

Happy Anniversary!

Symphony on the Prairie emcee Scott Hoke surprised Paul and Georgia Bradley when he announced from the stage on Aug. 29 that the couple was celebrating 80 years of marriage. Yes, that’s right. 80 years. The crowd roared and gave Paul and Georgia a standing ovation. According to a source, the young couple brought their own flask to toast to another 80 years.

I’ve Never Won Anything in my Life”

Our very own Tim Northcutt, associate director of communications, tagged Debra Fleetwood from New Palestine as our 100,000^th patron to enter the gates on Saturday, September 5.  Fleetwood received a certificate for two Value Packs (each containing 10 tickets) to the 2010 Series, a $100 Gift Card from Marsh Supermarkets, and the ISO will donate two seven-concert Lilly Classical Series subscriptions to a local charitable organization in her name. Her party was escorted to a reserved table near the front of the amphitheater where they enjoyed the concert by the River City Brass Band and a fireworks finale in this final weekend of the summer season (see photo below). According to Tim, Debra proclaimed that she had “never won anything in her life.”

Rented Heaters…in July?

One of the coldest evenings in memory occurred during the classical music concert weekend. Evening temperatures hovered around 58-60 degrees. The operations team ordered heaters for the musicians on stage…in the middle of July!

A Day in the Life (of a Faux Beatle)

Jim Owen, one of the two original members of the Beatles tribute band, Classical Mystery Tour, currently plays the role of John Lennon, though he hasn’t always been confined to John’s duties at the piano, guitar and microphone.  Up until the late 90s or so, he usually played the part of George Harrison.  When the Classical Mystery Tour group performed for the ISO in winter 2006 on stage at the HCT, Jim’s previous experience performing as George proved fortunate.  Tom Teeley, the current George Harrison (and the other original member of CMT), was leaving a local restaurant and slipped on a patch of ice and broke his right wrist the day of a concert.  Luckily, due to Jim Owen’s previous experience as George, he and Tom Teeley switched guitars during the performance so that the difficult electric guitar solos could be played more easily.  Tom has never forgotten Indianapolis.

Anything for You Dad

For our second concert at Prairie on June 26-27, excerpts from the Harry Potter books were read by narrator Constance Macy.  However, the excerpts did not come with the music. Conductor Alfred Savia’s own daughter, Julia – a self-proclaimed expert on the Harry Potter series – carefully studied the music excerpts her father had chosen and appropriately chose the script that would be read by the narrator during the show. 

Four Score and Seven Years Ago

Dean Dorrell, our Abraham Lincoln impersonator from the July 2-4 concerts, has been a frequent visitor to the Prairie stage.  Typically he arrives several hours before the concert, sits in his dressing room in his full Lincoln garb, and reads the latest biography on the President he so uncannily resembles.  Standing one inch taller than Abe, Mr. Dorrell also keeps a copy of many of Lincoln’s speeches in his top hat (as Lincoln did), and has nearly all of his speeches memorized.  He can be seen all over Midwest visiting schools, libraries, concerts and other celebratory functions honoring our 16^th President.  And he does this on the side!  Personally, he is a very quiet, gentle and generous man.  (See photo below – Dean Dorrell as Abraham Lincoln, moments before reciting the Gettysburg Address to a crowd of more than 10,000)

How Does He Do That?

Some audience members may have been to the Rockapella show and heard the amazing sounds coming from Jeff Thacher, the group’s “percussionist.”  What they may not have seen is how he makes these sounds.  He attaches two small microphones to either side of his vocal chords with surgical tape, and is able to create the low “bass-drum” kicks with his throat, without moving his lips.  Only then does he put a normal microphone to his mouth to make the more consonant, percussive sounds.  Quite often he can make two different sounds at once – one with his throat, and one with his mouth.

Three Degrees of Separation

Larry O’Brien, the current leader of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, performed with the band in the 60s, when Ray McKinley was the leader.  Ray played with Glenn Miller in the Air Force band and acted as its unofficial leader after Miller disappeared in December 1944. 

It’s Still the 21^st Century, You Know

Glynnis Campbell, the wife of America’s bass player Rich Campbell, is a published novelist (under the pseudonym Sarah McKerrigan) with 10 books on the shelf so far in her career.  She concentrates on writing fiction set within historical contexts, usually taking place between 1100-1500 England and Scotland.  She studies the culture, music and even clothing fabrics to make sure that her stories don’t contain any anachronisms.  She delves herself into the time period so that it’s nearly second-nature to her.  That is, according to her husband, until her cell phone goes off.

Happy 09.09.09!

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra turns over its stage to other musical ensembles in August and early September during Marsh Symphony on the Prairie. During this period, our Symphony musicians take a much-needed, well-deserved break away from their year-round schedule.

So, we’re sometimes asked… where are the ISO musicians during this time and what are they up to?  Here's a sample!

“[Our vacation plans are] certainly not exotic -- we plan to stay in Indy, work on cleaning up/organizing our home 3/4's of the time, exploring Indy and environs the other 1/4.   Plans include State Fair (seriously...), Baden Springs, and some new restaurants in Indy and Bloomington.  This may not be exciting to you, but it's very exciting to us!”

-Bev and Sylvia Scott

Beverly Scott, Assistant Principal Viola

Sylvia Scott, frequent ISO pianist

“Our family went to St. Joseph, Michigan, for a week. We also are going to Chicago for the weekend. But we have mostly stayed at home this summer.”

-Ruth Boerner, viola

“I will be composing during the break.”  www.jimbeckelmusic.com

-Jim Beckel

Principal Trombone & Composer*

*Don’t miss Jim’s world premiere piece In the Mind’s Eye: Images for Horns and Orchestra in concerts on May 14 and 15, 2009.

“My husband, John, and I will be taking our children to college at the end of August. First to return to school will be Katherine, just back from an archaeological dig in Athens where she found an ancient cooking pot.  She will be a senior at Washington University in St. Louis. Then Amy and David head east.  Amy is just completing a summer at a biological research center in Maine, and will return to Swarthmore College to continue working on her bachelor's degree in biochemistry.  David, proud of his Indiana roots, is making a Yale corn-hole set to take to school.  He has high hopes of learning to play the carillon at Yale, which happily has a silent practice keyboard as well as the one which activates the giant bells in Harkness Tower.  I am occupied practicing viola and piano, teaching viola lessons, and sewing on buttons!”

-Terry Langdon, viola

“I'll be traveling to New York City to attend the National Flute Association’s annual convention with my husband, George Evans. (My teacher, William Bennett, will be performing at the convention-- he's also traveling from London to Indianapolis in November for a masterclass and recital Nov 4 & 5.) While we’re in NYC, we’re attending a concert at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. Other than that long weekend, I'll be at home working on my book, “Flute for Dummies,” which will be coming out in December of this year.”

-Karen Evans Moratz

Principal Flute

“My husband’s brother used to play professional basketball in the NBA....for the Portland Trailblazers.  He runs a youth basketball camp in Portland, and my husband and I will be going out to work at it.  Norm will coach, and I'll run the concession stand.  (Whoopee!!!)  It will give us a nice chance to visit with family.  We'll earn a small salary....enough to cover our airfare.....so we plan to go out a week early and drive over to the Pacific coast.  I'm a photographer, and I plan to come home with some great pictures of the Oregon coast.”

-Christal Steele

Assistant Concertmaster

“I will be heading out to the Northwest to visit family in Spokane, Washington, and in north Idaho (Hayden and Post Falls). My sister and I plan to bike the section of the Hiawatha Trail that crosses the Idaho panhandle. We also are going to spend a few days at Hayden Lake, ID.”

-Nancy Agres, viola

“I’ve spent time racing on such races as the Port Huron to Mackinac Race onboard a 50-foot raceboat called Goblin. We finished 3rd in our section and 13th in our division.  I also raced a regatta in Harbor Springs Michigan on Goblin.   I will be on a boat 47-foot sailboat called Big Country for the Tri-State Regatta which is a three-day, three-state regatta over Labor Day weekend.  We race from Chicago to St. Joseph, Michigan, then from St. Joseph to Michigan City, Indiana, then race back to Chicago. Happy Sailing!”

-Rick Graef

Assistant Principal Horn