LPO Launches 25th Season

Members of the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra Board launched its 25th Silver Anniversary Season, "Silver Memories/Golden Dreams" with an announcement held in the lobby of the Guadalupe and Lilia Martinez Fine Arts Center on the Laredo Community College downtown campus, West End Washington.

LPO president David Brown, LCC president Dr. Ramon Dovalina, TAMIU president Dr. Ray Keck and LPO conductor and music director Brendan Townsend shared news of the four-concert season which opens Sunday, Oct. 3 at 4 p.m. at the Martinez Building on the LCC campus.

Tickets are $20 per adult and $12 for senior citizens. All TAMIU and LCC students will be admitted free with student ID, as will local high school and elementary students. Season tickets are available for $75 per person. Tickets are available at LCC and TAMIU business offices, Elmo Lopez Music Company, The Jardiniere, Foster's, Starbucks at the corner of Del Mar and McPherson and Picarillos.

The remaining performance schedule is as follows:

Sunday, November 7 at 4:00 p.m. - TAMIU.

"Silvery Shadows" features the comic work for actors and orchestra called "Phantom of the Orchestra."

Sunday, February 27 at 4:00 p.m. - LCC.

"From the Stage and Silver Screen" featuring music made popular both on the opera stage and through movies.

Sunday, April 17 at 4:00 p.m. at TAMIU.

This concert, entitled "Golden Ages" will bring forth beautiful works from the "Golden Ages" of music from the baroque to modern. This concert will feature the brilliant young pianist Adam Jackson from Fort Worth, winner of the 2004 Young Texas Artists Competition.

LPO president Brown noted that this is the second year of the successful LPO-LCC-TAMIU collaboration.

"Thanks to this partnership, audience support and inspired programming, we saw the LPO's audience grow considerably and look forward to a successful 25th Anniversary Season," Brown said.

Drs. Dovalina and Keck concurred, noting that the collaboration has powerful ramifications for both campuses.

"This is a marvelous way to bring our students valuable exposure to the performing arts and our campuses," Dr. Dovalina said.

Dr. Keck also noted that in addition to the benefit for students at both TAMIU and LCC, audiences and the community at large benefit from the stability the collaboration has provided.

"Prior to the collaboration, the very future of the LPO was of great concern. For those of us who have cherished this organization since its inception, this collaboration has helped secure the LPO's future," Dr. Keck said.

Music director and conductor Townsend said the latest season offers a variation of last year's popular "Around the World" series which highlighted global composers.

"We ended last year's musical season awaiting a return to US shores. That is this season: we begin our musical return to the US with a concert entitled "Hi Ho Silver" that features music that celebrates America or is written by an American composer," Townsend said.

For the opening Oct. 3 concert the program will include three movements from the ballet suite "Rodeo" by the American composer Aaron Copland; a "fiddler" series that features fiddle orchestrations by Townsend of three Texas country tunes including "Tom and Jerry," "Old-time Waltz" and "Hot Foot Rag."

The first half of the concert ends with two American Classics - Leroy Anderson's "Syncopated Clock" and John Phillip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever." The second half of the concert is Antonin Dvorak's 9th Symphony "From the New World," perhaps Dvorak's most well-known symphony inspired by music heard during his travels in America.

Townsend said that the concerts of the season may strike an especially familiar chord for those Laredoans who attended Laredo Independent School District elementary schools in the 70s or 80s.

"Many of the season's works were chosen from the Elementary Music Program run by Mrs. Hortense Offerle at LISD precisely so that people would be familiar with them and would be inclined to attend concerts. Mrs. Offerle has been a staunch supporter of the LPO and has served on the board of directors and held the LPO presidency twice and continues to contribute to the educational outreach efforts of the orchestra," he explained.

On November 5 at the Laredo Country Club the LPO will host a Gala fundraiser that will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the group and recognize the efforts of 25 patrons of the arts whose vision and leadership helped create and nurture the LPO. Chair of the event is Ramon Zertuche. Tickets will be $75 per person and seating is limited, so early ticket purchase is recommended, said Zertuche.

"We are looking forward to a memorable evening of fine food and music as well the honorary awards to the 25 patrons of the arts," Zertuche said.

In addition to the season, in early January 2005 the LPO plans to collaborate with the Laredo Philharmonic Chorale and United High School Choir to perform Beethoven's 9th Symphony both as a celebration of the organization's 25th Silver Anniversary Season and the City of Laredo's 250th Anniversary.

For additional information, please contact Townsend at 326.3039 or 721.5258.