The new Boise Philharmonic 2018-2019 Season promises to be their best one yet. Now branded as the Boise Phil, a nod to getting the name out in a more accessible fashion to their Treasure Valley audience, the orchestra and it’s allied smaller groups like the Chamber Players are working hard to ensure that the new season will have something for everyone.
One of the driving forces behind the new season is the Boise Phil’s new Executive Director, Hollis Welsh, who told The Boise Beat that “I’m thrilled to be entering the Boise Phil 2018-19 Season with our new look and feel and fantastic season lineup. Our goal is to be more accessible each season to more and more people in the Treasure Valley. We’re offering more diverse programming and getting out into the community more. We love our community, and our new branding, with its incredible color palette, imagery and tone, helps us say, ‘There is something here for you. Come discover, delight, and connect”. Her plans for the Boise Phil will indeed make this a memorable season for any music lovers in the Treasure Valley and beyond.
Music Director Eric Garcia is beginning his second season here and is enthusiastic about the music, the programs, the musicians and the community. He talked about the upcoming Boise Philharmonic 2018-2019 Season; and when asked about the Treasure Valley’s reception to his programs, responded enthusiastically, saying that “I think that an orchestra and a conductor, through their performances, continue to build a relationship with their audience. For instance, we have contemporary works on our programs. And I think there is a very positive relationship that we have between the Philharmonic and the audience. I’m incredibly grateful for our audiences for being so willing to try new things, as well as enjoying new interpretations of works that you’ve heard many times – from Brahms to Tchaikovsky. But I think that the really strong relationship that we’ve managed to build has really allowed us to go to many great places”.
Some of these programs from the Boise Philharmonic 2018-2019 Season include more traditional music evenings such as the opening nights on September 7 & 8, which will feature the 1st Symphony from Johannes Brahms. The evening will also show a contemporary side with living female composer Anna Clyne, a 38 year old London composer whose Masquerade will open the evening. Guest pianist Jon Nakamatsu will also be featured. The next program goes in a different direction, presenting a unique event which will provide an amazing experience. This will be a presentation of the feature film Star Wars: A New Hope, with the music provided for the film by the full Boise Phil orchestra.
Other musical evenings during the Boise Philharmonic 2018-2019 Season include October 5 & 6, which commemorates the life and music of conductor/composer Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein at 100 will celebrate the music of the genius behind West Side Story, as well as presenting one of Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky’s best-loved works, the 5th Symphony. January brings an all classical lineup with the performances on January 11 & 12. Mendelssohn and More includes perhaps the most famous and beloved violin concerto of them all, the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, featuring young violin virtuoso Simone Porter. Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 will round out this musical evening’s spectacular program.
This season, not all the events will be a with a full orchestra. Maestro Garcia has planned several events from the Boise Phil outside of the traditional venues at the Ann Morrison Theater in Boise and the NNU Brandt Events Center in Nampa. Music Director Garcia talked about some of them such as the Uncorked Chamber Series, which will run from January to May. These Sunday afternoon events, held at the Egyptian Theatre and the Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy, not only will feature some unique music classical and contemporary music for string, brass and woodwind ensembles, but also will showcase some amazing jazz-flavored compositions. Eric Garcia said, “I really wanted to encourage breaking down the barriers between the musicians and the audience. Not that one existed, per se, but I think we can always try to have a closer connection between ourselves as musicians and our audience. Our Chamber Series was incredibly successful at doing that. It was such a joy to see such a large and growing audience at the concert and then for the audience to “hang out” and meet the musicians. It’s so much fun! We also have programs in the works to go outside of the concert hall and Egyptian and perform at Veteran’s homes, correctional institutions, nursing homes and hospitals, etc. Of course, we are continuing our great education program; we perform as much as possible at schools. It’s so important to reach out to the population of the community that might not have an opportunity to come see us in the concert hall. So if they cannot make it to us, we will by all means make it to them”.
Some of the new programs of the Boise Philharmonic 2018-2019 Season, such as the Pub Crawl with Boise State Public Radio on September 27, will further bring the Boise Phil into the community. A free event (all you pay for are your own food and drinks), this evening will present 3 bar’s worth of music, with one featuring a string quartet, another a brass quartet and a third featuring a woodwind quintet. These chamber groups are an important aspect of Musical Director Eric Garcia’s plan for expanding contact between the Boise Phil and the community. He explained, “Music is such a beautiful communicative art. I firmly believe that music is a great healer, it is a great communicator. We become musicians because we want to communicate with other people. It’s easier than talking, it’s so utterly natural. If people in our Treasure Valley cannot come to our concerts, we want to give them every opportunity through our Chamber Groups to hear us. I think it’s a responsibility of any great orchestral musician. And our musicians want to do that so much: they care deeply about the community and spend a lot of time to go out and have that association. And we’ll keep working to communicate through music”
The Boise Philharmonic 2018-2019 Season will include many other concert delights, including the traditional Christmas performance of Handel’s Messiah, as well as a separate pair of Holiday Pops concerts featuring not only the Boise Phil but the Master Chorale too. Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert and Rachmaninoff will all be able to be enjoyed during the upcoming season. The Sea will be a contemplative music event inspired by nature, featuring works by Debussy, Britten and Elgar. Ben Model, the wonderful organist who plays the Egyptian Theatre’s classic 1927 organ, will again do a Silent Movie Evening with the Boise Phil and several projected films from the silent era. Another evening of Hollywood Hits will find the Boise Phil accompanying clips from movies such as James Bond, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman, Rocky, Ben-Hur, The Pink Panther and many more.
As part of Maestro Eric Garcia’s desire for championing living composers, the Boise Phil will do a program featuring composers John Adams’ The Chairman Dances and Sean Shepherd’s Songs, the latter of which will be performed for only the second time on a concert stage. These and many more evenings will create a full season of unparalleled musical pleasure for residents of the Treasure Valley. In addition, the Boise Philharmonic Youth Orchestra will also provide a series of concerts showcasing the area’s best young musicians.
For more information about the upcoming Boise Philharmonic 2018-2019 Seasonincluding dates, venues, performances and ticket prices, please visit the Boise Phil website at www.boisephil.org. They can also be reached by phone at (208) 344-7849 or email at info@boisephil.org.
