Join us on February 16 from 5:45-7:00pm in the Lake Hunter Room, The Lakeland Center.
Included in Maestro Circle, Grand Season Series and Grand Mini Series subscriptions.
Tickets for individual Tea & Symphony events are $15/person.

Enjoy hors d’oeuvres, ginger peach tea or a glass of wine, and mingle at our business after-hours music enrichment programs given on the Tuesday one week before each Masterworks Concert.  Learn about the life, times and music of the featured composers on our upcoming Masterworks Concerts at our lecture/demonstrations facilitated by Music Director Mark Thielen.

Tea & Symphony is sponsored by Carlton & Carlton, Attorneys at Law.

The concert features the ISO’s Young Artist Competition Winners.  Rachel Shepard performs the third movement of the Glazunov Violin Concerto in A Minor and Andrew Focks performs the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor.

The program also includes Zampa Overture by Herold, Dolly Suite by Faure, Selections from Westside Story by Leonard Bernstein/Arr. Mason.

The Philharmonic Phenoms Masterworks Concert is generously sponsored by MIDFLORIDA Credit Union and The Guild of the ISO, Inc.

Magnificent sets. Spectacular costumes. Glorious voices. Live symphony orchestra. Familiar musical scores. Timeless, classic story lines. Emotional introspection. The artistry of opera offers a theatrical experience like no other.

Before going to the opera, plan ahead to get the most out of your experience.  Will you eat dinner out before the opera or after the opera?  What time should you arrive?  We recommend that you arrive at the venue AT LEAST 30-minutes prior to the performance to allow time to find parking and your seat, and so you won’t feel rushed.

The Pirates of Penzance is scheduled to begin on Saturday evening, January 23, 2010 promptly at 7:00pm. There is a 15-minute intermission after an approximate one-hour and six-minute first act.  The second act is about 10 minutes shorter. Including curtain calls at the end of the opera, the second act should be over around 9:15pm.

Venue & Parking

The performance takes place at the Branscomb Auditorium on the campus of Florida Southern College.  Click here for a map and additional parking information.  Parking is available for FREE.  Arrive at least 30 minutes prior to curtain time to allow for unexpected parking lot delays due to activities on campus.  There are FSC Moc’s basketball games going on in the Jenkins Field House on the night of the opera.

What to Wear

To many, the opera is the perfect opportunity to be elegant and glamorous. But for those who take a more laid-back approach, comfortable style is the way to go.  So no matter if you like dolling it up, or taking it easy, you’ll fit right in.

Be Prepared

Knowing the storyline of the opera before arriving for the performance is a great initial step to enhancing the enjoyment of your opera experience.  If you have time, read the synopsis, cast list and biographies in the opera program right now!

If you don’t have time to learn something about the opera beforehand, come early and read through the program in the lobby or in your seat before the lights are dimmed.  Branscomb lobby opens at 5:30pm, but the theatre will not open until the Production Stage Manager gives the go ahead to open the theatre doors at approximately 6:30pm.

No food and beverages are allowed in the theatre.

When the lobby lights flash before the opera and at the end of intermission, that means you have a few minutes to find your seat.

About the Performance

At curtain time, the house lights are dimmed, and the musicians of the Imperial Symphony Orchestra begin to perform the opera’s overture. The overture is a musical masterpiece that transports you from your seat into the storyline.  The overture contains snippets  of the music you will hear later in the opera.

The stage scene reveals itself before your eyes, and the performers begin to enter. Unlike musicals or plays, most operas have very little spoken dialog, however “The Pirates of Penzance” has more dialog than most.  In “The Pirates of Penzance,” W.S. Gilbert’s libretto (book) which is like a script for a movie, is set to the music composed by Arthur Sullivan and sung by the story’s characters.  This includes the principal cast and the chorus members who are also singing and acting in full costume.

Even though this opera is in English, we have chosen to project supertitles above the stage during the singing to benefit those who may have a little difficulty hearing and because the language is “British English” rather than “American English.”  We felt this would enhance the experience for many attendees.  If it seems like there are a lot of blanks, that’s because repeated lines are only shown once in the supertitles.

Performers and production specialists who bring these masterworks to life are people who’ve been perfecting their craft their entire lives. The end result for audiences is a performance that is presented at the highest artistic level.

Opera brings you face to face with a range of human emotions; it can be sad, hysterical, surprising or uplifting. Feel free to laugh or cry as the drama presents itself.  ”The Pirates of Penzance” is one of the most humorous in the repertoire.  The cast and crew have had a jolly good time preparing it for you.  Enjoy!

View Pirates of Penzance program spreads

Ticket Phone: 863.688.3743

Adult Tickets: $75, $50, $30, $20; Student/Child Tickets: $50, $25, $15, $10

A Patron Package at $150 includes premium seating and meet-the-artist Opera Grande Reception in a private home immediately following the performance.

Tickets: Adult Single Concert: $20, $30, $40; Full-time Student/Child Single Concert: Half Price

SAVE NOW: Order last two concerts for $20 if purchased by February 22, 2010. It’s half price for students/children.  What a terrific Valentine’s Day gift.

Order tickets through The Lakeland Center Box Office, Monday-Friday, 9:30am-5:30pm in person or by phone 863.834.8111, x0. Get tickets from the ISO Office, Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm in person or by phone 863.688.3743, x4.

Upcoming Concerts:

Philharmonic Phenoms – February 23, 2010
Zampa Overture by Herold
Glazunov Violin Concerto in A Minor, Mvt 3
Rachel Shepard, violin
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Mvt 1
Andrew Focks, piano
Dolly Suite by Faure
Selections from “West Side Story” by Bernstein/Arr. Mason
Concert sponsored by The Guild Inc and MIDFLORIDA Credit Union

March Madness – March 23, 2010
Wear your favorite college team colors to our Masterworks Season Finale.
Overture-Fantasy to Romeo & Juliet by Tchaikovsky
Rhapsody in Blue by Gershwin
Jade Simmons, piano
New World Symphony by Dvorak
American in Paris by Gershwin
Concert sponsored by WellDyneRx and Munson, Vining & Midyette, P.A.C

Saturday, January 23, 2010; 7 pm
Branscomb Auditorium, Florida Southern College

The Orchestra is pleased to welcome opera conductor James Caraher and stage director Ben Spierman to Lakeland once again for the ISO’s annual fundraiser.

In The Pirates of Penzance, the young pirate apprentice, Frederic, is about to be freed from his indentured period.  The honorable Frederic, who was mistakenly apprenticed to the pirates by his partially deaf nursemaid Ruth, has decided to leave the pirate life.

Now a free man, Frederic leaves for the shore.  Frederic, who has never seen a woman besides Ruth, instantly falls in love with Mabel, one of the daughters of Major-General Stanley.  Soon though, the pirates arrive and want to help the police to stop the pirates. Frederic desires to help Major-General Stanley and the police protect the ladies, but soon he discovers that due to a technicality, he is still bound by duty to remain an apprentice to the pirates.

All is well in the end when it is discovered that the pirates have noble blood and would in fact be suitable husbands for Major-General Stanley’s daughters.

Roles

Adult Tickets: $75, $50, $30, $20; A Patron Package at $150 includes premium seating and meet-the-artist Opera Grande Reception in a private home immediately following the performance.

Student/Child Tickets: $50, $25, $15, $10.

Ticket Phone: 863.688.3743

One of our most popular events is our annual Christmas Masterworks Concert.  This performance is appropriate for all ages of concertgoers.

Eric Metaxas, best selling author of “AMAZING GRACE: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery,” narrates of his children’s book “Uncle Mugsy and the Terrible Twins of Christmas.” The music is composed by Jean Dane.  Tim Raglin’s illustrations will be displayed on stage above the orchestra.

The Orchestra is joined by Lakeland Choral Society and Lake Wales Chorale for John Rutter’s “Magnificat” and Craig Courtney’s “Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Simply Christmas is sponsored by The Verner Foundation & The James P. Gills Foundation

However, we are offering an incredible SALE with a deadline of February 22: Our final two season concerts for$20 for adults ($10/concert) and $10 for full-time students and children ($5/concert).

Order your season tickets through The Lakeland Center Box Office, Monday-Friday, 9:30am-5:30pm in person or by phone 863.834.8111, x0.  Or, order tickets from the ISO Office, Monday-Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm in person or by phone 863.688.3743, x4.

Symphony tickets make a terrific gift for family, friends, colleagues, clients, employees, good neighbors.  It’s a rejuvenating experience that will put a smile on your face.  Don’t miss out!

The Lakeland Choral Society and Lake Wales Chorale join the Imperial Symphony Orchestra to perform John Rutter’s Magnificat.  Christine Wood Johnston is the soprano soloist.  In addition, the combined group will perform Craig Courtney’s Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas.  The Chorus and Orchestra sounded magnificent at rehearsal on Tuesday night.  This is truly a concert you don’t want to miss.

YouTube Video Selection - I. Magnificat anima mea

Program Notes: Magnificat by John Rutter, b.1945

One of the most popular contemporary composers, John Rutter has composed a large number of mostly choral works, but also including two children’s operas, orchestral pieces and works based on the heritage of the Beatles. In 1981 he founded the Cambridge Singers, leading them to international prominence.

Rutter’s works are accessible to singers and audiences alike and have been performed extensively both here and in Europe. He states that his work “ranges in difficulty from very simple to fairly challenging, though it was my intention in writing them that none would be beyond the reach of a capable church choir.” He composed the Magnificat early in 1990 and premiered it with the Cambridge Singers in Carnegie Hall a few months later.

Rutter commented on his Magnificat: “The passage from St Luke (Chapter 1, verses 46-55) known as the Magnificat has always been one of the most familiar and well-loved of scriptural texts, not least because of its inclusion as a canticle in the Catholic office of Vespers and in Anglican Evensong. It is a poetic outpouring of praise, joy and trust in God, ascribed by Luke to the Virgin Mary on learning that she was to give birth to the Christ. Musical settings of it abound, though surprisingly few of them since J. S. Bach gave the text extended treatment.

“I had long wished to write an extended Magnificat, but was not sure how to approach it until I found my starting point in the association of the text with the Virgin Mary. In countries such as Spain, Mexico and Puerto Rico, feast days of the Virgin are joyous opportunities for people to take to the streets and celebrate with singing, dancing and processions. These images of outdoor celebration were I think somewhere in my mind as I wrote, although I was not fully conscious of the fact until afterwards. I was conscious of following Bach’s example in adding to the liturgical text: the interpolated ‘Sanctus’ (to the Gregorian chant of the Missa cum jubilo) in the third movement seems to grow out of the preceding thought ‘et sanctum nomen eius’. The lovely 15th Century English poem ‘Of a Rose’ (which forms the second movement) and the prayer ‘Sancta Maria’ (which the soloist sings to its Gregorian melody in the middle of the Gloria), both strengthen the Marian connection further.”

Rutter’s sense of the Magnificat as a joyous piece is immediately apparent in his setting of opening movement as a dance that alternates measures of 6/8 with 3/4 time. The rhythmic pattern, known as “hemiola” was commonly used as early as the Renaissance, but the lively tempo is most reminiscent of Leonard Bernstein, who uses the same device in “America” from West Side Story. As Rutter develops musically each of the sections of the familiar text, he follows another long tradition by using tone painting. The “Fecit potentiam” (he manifests his power), for example, is almost militaristic in mood and in its use of the lower brass. By contrast, the “Et misericordia” (And his mercy is on them who fear him) is a gentle soprano solo.

Program notes by:
Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn
Wordpros@mindsprint.com
www.wordprosmusic.com

Learn about the life, times and music of the featured composers on the upcoming concert during a fun and interactive program facilitated by Music Director Mark Thielen.

Included in Maestro Circle and Grand Season Series and Grand Mini-Series subscriptions.
Single event tickets are $15/person.

Tea & Symphony is sponsored by Carlton & Carlton, Attorneys at Law.