Symphony of the Mountains Announces 62nd Season

The 62nd season of Symphony of the Mountains celebrates regionalism as we continue to entertain, enrich and educate our northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia community. In its third season with Cornelia Kodkani-Laemmli as Music Director and Conductor, SOTM celebrates collaborations with regional artists, composers and soloists as we pay tribute to our regional & national heritage and to our military veterans. Together with Voices of the Mountains conducted by W. Patrick Flannagan, SOTM is sure to offer something for every musical taste, and looks forward to performing for you, your family and friends! Season subscriptions are now on sale and include the following seven concerts.

Join Symphony of the Mountains on Saturday, September 27 for ASizzling September Night@ in an evening of well-known works with sensuous Latin sounds. George Gershwin=s percussive Cuban Overture and his beloved Rhapsody in Blue featuring E.T.S.U. Professor/Pianist Dr. Chih-Long Hu will be performed along with Ravel=s masterpiece, Bolero. Join Cornelia and Dr. Hu for a pre-concert chat at 7:00PM. The performance is at 8:00PM at the Toy F. Reid Center in Kingsport.

Next, Symphony of the Mountains and soprano Katie Wolfe Zahn pay tribute to the men and women of the armed forces with an afternoon of patriotic tunes at the Toy F. Reid Center on Sunday, November 9 at 3:00PM in AA Salute to Veterans@. From film composer John Williams= stirring Liberty March to Lee Greenwood=s powerful God Bless the U.S.A. to Calvin Custer=s delightful arrangement of An Armed Forces Salute that features the anthems of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines, you are certain to find this afternoon a heartfelt tribute to our finest in uniform!

Symphony of the Mountains, joined by Voices of the Mountains and the King College Symphonic Choir under the direction of W. Patrick Flannagan, present their annual holiday concert on Saturday, December 6 at 3:00 PM in the Toy F. Reid Center in Kingsport. The first half will feature Morten Lauridsen=s Lux Aeterna (Eternal Light). Dr. Lauridsen’s compositions have been recorded on over one-hundred CD’s and have received three Grammy nominations. He is the former chair of the USC Thornton School of Music composition department and currently serves as Distinguished Professor of Composition. Lauridsen is considered to be the most frequently performed American choral composer of the past decade. The second half of the program features traditional & popular holiday favorites, including a special performance of Tennessee Christmas with Kingsport=s own rising country star, Brinley Addington.

On Sunday, January 25 at 3:00PM at the Toy F. Reid Center in Kingsport, Symphony of the Mountains will present a special concert titled ANew World, New Sounds@ that features Tan Dun=s Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra performed by guest artist David Cossin and Symphony of the Mountains own percussionists Jay Oberfeitinger and Scott Eddlemon. Tan Dun is a multi-faceted Chinese composer/conductor with a creative repertoire that expands the boundaries of Eastern & Western music. He is the composer of the Oscar Award-winning original score for the Ang Lee film ACrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon@. Dvoák’s beloved & powerful Symphony No. 9, commonly known as the “New World Symphony”, concludes the program. Join Cornelia and the guest artists for an informal, pre-concert chat at 2:00PM.

Symphony of the Mountains: 2008-2009 Season Press Release, Page 2

Symphony of the Mountains performs works of three of classical music=s great composers - Beethoven, Haydn and Bizet on Saturday, February 28 at 8:00PM at the Toy F. Reid Center in Kingsport. The program, AChamber Classics@, opens with Beethoven=s Egmont Overture. The orchestra is then joined by cellist Feliks Volozhanin, winner of the 2008 Elizabeth Harper Vaughn Concerto Composition, in a performance of Haydn=s ebullient Cello Concerto in C Major. The evening concludes with Bizet=s charming & melodious Symphony in C Major. Please join Cornelia and Felix at 7:00PM for an informal pre-concert chat.

Celebrate Spring with this grand collaboration of Symphony of the Mountains, conducted by Music Director Cornelia Kodkani-Laemmli, Voices of the Mountains, directed by W. Patrick Flannagan, and the Milligan College Concert Choir, directed by John Wakefield on Saturday, April 4 at 8:00PM at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol. The evening begins with the orchestra strings performing Bach=s G minor Fugue, followed by the full orchestra playing Mozart=s well-known Symphony No. 40 in G minor. The choruses then join the orchestra as they perform Haydn=s popular Lord Nelson Mass, with soloists Katie Wolfe Zahn, soprano, Gavin Wiggenson, tenor, and John Arnold, baritone.

Symphony of the Mountains continues performances at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon, Virginia on Sunday, May 10 at 3:00PM. The program, AHomage to our Heritage@, features The Stainless Banner, an unfinished three-act opera by Knoxville, Tennessee composer & French Hornist Mark Harrell. The music features lush, poignant melodies in seven extracted sections of the opera. As there are no soloists, Mr. Harrell has punctuated the musical sections with historic readings from the old south featuring narrators Terry Allen, Lois Humphreys, W. A. Johnson and Carla Karst. The music is a sonorous commentary on the lives of heroic Americans who lived through the Civil War and who spoke and wrote with great eloquence of the difficulties of that time.
Also featured on the program will be film composer Max Steiner’s masterpiece ATara@ from “Gone With The Wind”. If you have seen the classic 1939 movie about the old South before and during the Civil War, you will recall the majestic & stirring film score with the gorgeous theme that appears throughout the film. You are sure to be swept away to another time and place as you hear this magnificent work!
The program continues with the music of Virginia composer Emory Waters. Mr. Waters is an active horn player, faculty member at Virginia State University at Petersburg and winner of an Artist Fellowship Award from the Virginia Commission of the Arts. Symphony of the Mountains will perform his Serenade for Orchestra, a lyrical work composed in the late Classical style. The work was commissioned five years ago for the Petersburg (VA) Symphony=s 25th anniversary and, according to the composer “… is light-hearted and festive@.

Symphony of the Mountains concerts and educational outreach programs are underwritten by the generous support of many individuals and corporate donors, including Alpha Natural Resources, King Pharmaceuticals, Eastman Chemical Company, Cumberland Resources, Wellmont Health System, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Tennessee Arts Commission, the Virginia Commission of the Arts, Town of Abingdon, Va., City of Kingsport, Southwest Virginia Education Center, SOTM Women’s Symphony Committee and the East Tennessee Foundation.

Season Tickets for the seven-concert subscription offer the greatest value, assure your seating preference and are priced from $60 (students) to $140. Single tickets for the concerts will go on sale August 1. Office hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00AM to 5:00PM. Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express credit cards are accepted. For further information and to purchase Season Tickets, please contact Symphony of the Mountains by telephone at 423-392-8423, by fax at 423-392-8428, by e-mail at info@symphonyofthemountains.org, on-line at their website, www.symphonyofthemountains.org or in their office at the Kingsport Renaissance Center, Suite 311.