News
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Hays Symphony 2023-2024 Season Announcement
Dear friends,
Welcome to the 2023-24 season of the Hays Symphony! We have some great concerts planned, beginning with Let’s Dance, featuring dance-inspired classics from rhumbas and tangos to Hungarian dances and polkas. Nordic Adventure will feature music from Denmark and Finland. Cantus Articus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra) by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara incorporates birdsong into a beautiful and lush orchestral soundscape. We will close that program with Sibelius’s majestic and enthralling Symphony No. 5. Our Children’s Halloween Concert, Symphony in Space, will feature music from Holst’s The Planets, Star Wars, E.T., and much more, all accompanying an original tale of an alien wandering through the solar system. This December, we are bringing back our Holiday Pops concert, featuring some of your favorite sounds of the season (and a few musical surprises as well). In February, the winners of the 2nd Annual FHSU Concerto/Aria Competition will showcase their brilliant performances in a concert highlighting our home-grown talent. Also in February, guest conductor Zhang Yue will lead the orchestra in a celebration of the Chinese New Year. Our final concert of the season, Tragedy and Triumph, will bring together the Hays Symphony and FHSU Choirs for Mozart’s elegant and sublime Coronation Mass. We will bring the season to an exciting close with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, a bold, expressive, and thrilling masterpiece by the beloved composer.
Nothing beats the experience of live music, performed with passion by the wonderful members of our orchestra. As always, concerts are free and open to all. Should you wish to provide financial support to help maintain this cultural gem of western Kansas, donations are always welcome. For more information, please visit https://www.hayssymphony.org/support-us.
Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you soon for the 2023-24 season!
Brian Buckstead,
Music Director
Hays Symphony 2023-2024 Season Full Concert Schedule
Outdoor Pops Concert: Let’s Dance
Friday, August 25, 2023
7:30 p.m. – Hays Pavilion
Benjamin – Jamaican Rhumba
Albeniz – Tango in D
Chabrier – Habanera
Beethoven – selections from 12 Contredanses
Brahms – Hungarian Dance No. 1
Copland – “Saturday Night Waltz” from Rodeo
Dvorak – Slavonic Dance No. 8
Faure – Pavane
Grieg – “Anitra’s Dance” from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1
Strauss – Pizzicato Polka
Falla – “Ritual Fire Dance” from El amor brujo
Nordic Adventure
Saturday, September 23, 2023
7:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Nielsen – Overture to Maskarade
Rautavaara – Cantus Arcticus: Concerto for Birds and Orchestra
Sibelius – Symphony No. 5
Children’s Halloween Concert: Symphony in Space
Sunday, October 29, 2023
2:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Strauss – “Fanfare” (Intro-Sunrise) from Also Sprach Zarathustra
Herrmann – “Prelude” from Fahrenheit 451
Holst – Selections from The Planets
Williams – Theme from E.T.
Williams – Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Goldsmith – Star Trek Through the Years
Williams – Star Wars Medley
Holiday Pops
Saturday, December 2, 2023
7:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Wendel – “Overture to a Merry Christmas” from A Classical Christmas Suite
Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on Greensleeves
Berlin – White Christmas
Wendel – “We Three Kings (So Unfinished Are…)” from A Classical Christmas Suite
Martin – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Cohen – A Klezmer Nutcracker
Wendel – “Jingle Fourth” from A Classical Christmas Suite
Amundson – Angels’ Dance
Leontovich – Carol of the Bells
Wendel – “Little Bolero Boy” from A Classical Christmas Suite
FHSU Concerto/Aria Winner’s Concert
Saturday, February 10, 2024
7:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Repertoire to be announced
A Chinese New Year Celebration with guest conductor Zhang Yue
Saturday, February 17, 2024
7:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Repertoire to be announced
Tragedy and Triumph
Saturday, April 20, 2024
7:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Mozart – Mass in C major, K. 317 (Coronation Mass)
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36
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Hays Symphony 2022-2023 Season Announcement
Dear friends,
Welcome to the 2022-23 season of the Hays Symphony! Our first performance, Pops Potpourri, will feature light-hearted and jazz-tinged classics from Leroy Anderson and Morton Gould, two of America’s greatest crossover composers. American Tapestry will feature Ivalah Allen singing Samuel Barber’s lush and nostalgic Knoxville: Summer of 1915. Three rarely-heard works by the great American composers David Diamond, Wallingford Riegger, and Morton Gould will complete our sonic tapestry. Our Children’s Halloween Concert, Disney Magic, will be fun-filled afternoon of Disney favorites, including Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean, Frozen, and more. This December, the Hays Symphony is honored to perform in the beloved Cathedral Concert at the beautiful Basilica of St. Fidelis. Join us as the choirs, ensembles, students, and faculty of FHSU ring in the holiday season. In February, the winners of the inaugural FHSU Concerto/Aria Competition will showcase the real talent we have right here at Fort Hays State University. Our final concert of the season, Evocations, will feature Kansas’s own teenage virtuoso harpist, Jenna Teichler, performing Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s evocative Concertino for Harp and Orchestra. Expressive and defiant masterpieces by Georges Bizet and Dmitry Shostakovich will bring the season to a rousing close.
Thank you for supporting the Hays Symphony, and I look forward to seeing you soon for the 2022-23 season!
Brian Buckstead,
Music Director
Hays Symphony 2022-2023 Season Full Concert Schedule
Outdoor Pops Concert: Pops Potpourri
Friday, August 26, 2022
7:30 p.m. – Hays Pavilion
Richard Hayman – Pops Hoedown
Leroy Anderson – Jazz Legato
Leroy Anderson – Jazz Pizzicato
Morton Gould – Yankee Doodle
Leroy Anderson – Fiddle-Faddle
Leroy Anderson – Plink, Plank, Plunk!
Leroy Anderson – Syncopated Clock
George Gershwin – Lullaby
Morton Gould – “Pavanne” from Symphonette No. 2
Morton Gould – American Salute
Masterworks I Concert: American Tapestry
Saturday, October 1, 2022
7:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Guest soloist: Ivalah Allen, soprano
David Diamond – Rounds for String Orchestra
Samuel Barber – Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Wallingford Riegger – Dance Rhythms
Morton Gould – Symphonette No. 2
Children’s Concert: Disney Magic
Sunday, October 30, 2022
2:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Disney Magic (arr. Lowden)
Disney Supertime (arr. Lowden)
Aladdin (arr. Mortimer)
Pirates of the Caribbean (arr. Ricketts)
Music from Frozen (arr. Krogstad)
Pixar Movie Favorites (arr. Brown)
Sunday, December 11, 2022
3:30 p.m. – Basilica of St. Fidelis, Victoria
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (arr.Schoenfeld)
A Classical Christmas Suite (arr. Wendel)
and much more
Masterworks II Concert: FHSU Concerto/Aria Winner’s Concert
Saturday, February 18, 2023
7:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Repertoire and soloists to be announced
Masterworks III Concert: Evocations
Saturday, April 22, 2023
7:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Guest soloist: Jenna Teichler, harp
Georges Bizet – Selections from Carmen
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco – Concertino for Harp and Orchestra
Dmitry Shostakovich – Symphony No. 9
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Interview with High Plains Public Radio:
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Hays Symphony 2021-2022 Season Announcement
Dear friends,
Welcome to the 2021-22 season of the Hays Symphony! I am thrilled to be back, reuniting with you and the wonderful musicians of the Hays Symphony. We are all excited to welcome you back inside the concert hall, with the unbeatable energy of in-person, live performances. Our upcoming season is full of surprises, from contemporary masterpieces to unforgettable classics. We will begin with our Outdoor Pops Concert, Broadway Tonight, a celebration of your favorite shows, from West Side Story to Hamilton. Our Season Opening Gala concert will feature three nature-inspired works by the great American composers Philip Glass, Alan Hovhaness, and William Grant Still. Our Children’s Halloween Concert, Creepy Classics, will be full of mischief, as we perform Night on Bald Mountain, music from Harry Potter, Psycho, and more. New this year is our Holiday Pops Concert, featuring some of your favorite music of the season. Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, music from A Charlie Brown Christmas, and a Christmas Carol sing-along are just a few of the treats in store for December. I will put down my baton and take out my violin during our February Concert, which features composer Max Richter's reimagining of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, as well as three other works that reinterpret the music and musical style of the past. In May, our final Masterworks Concert will feature French composer Francis Poulenc’s beautiful Gloria, with the wonderful FHSU choirs, under the direction of Terry Crull. as well as Hector Berlioz’s rambunctious and revolutionary Symphonie Fantastique. For the full concert schedule and details, see below.
Thank you for supporting the Hays Symphony, and I look forward to seeing you soon for live music!
Brian Buckstead, Music Director
Hays Symphony 2021-2022 Season Full Concert Schedule
Outdoor Pops Concert – Broadway Tonight
Saturday, August 28, 2021
7:30 p.m. – Hays Pavilion
Chase – Broadway Tonight!
Bernstein – West Side Story Selections
Hamlisch – A Chorus Line
Rodgers – Richard Rodgers Portrait
Bock – Fiddler on the Roof Overture
Schwartz – Highlights from Wicked
Miranda – Suite from Hamilton
Season Opening Gala – The Western Hemisphere
Saturday, September 25, 2021
7:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Glass – The Canyon
Hovhaness – Symphony No. 2 (Mysterious Mountain)
Still – Symphony No. 5 (The Western Hemisphere)
Children’s Halloween Concert – Creepy Classics
Sunday, October 31, 2021
2:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Saint-Saëns – Danse macabre
Mussorgsky – Night on Bald Mountain
Grieg – "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1
Bernard Herrmann – Suite from Psycho
Hector Berlioz – "March to the Scaffold" from Symphonie fantastique
Williams – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Symphonic Suite
Holiday Pops
Saturday, December 4, 2021
7:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Coleridge-Taylor – Christmas Overture
Krogstad – The Bells of Christmas
Holcombe/Rothrock – Festive Sounds of Hanukah
Tchaikovsky – Nutcracker Suite
Guaraldi/Pugh – A Charlie Brown Christmas
Krogstad – Christmas at the Movies
L. Mozart – Sleigh Ride
Anderson – Sleigh Ride
Munford – A Christmas Carol Sing-Along
February Concert – Past Meets Present
Saturday, February 19, 2022
7:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
Richter – The Four Seasons Recomposed
Stravinsky – Pulcinella Suite
Prokofiev – Symphony No. 1 (Classical)
Masterworks Concert – Voyage to France
Sunday, May 1, 2022
7:30 p.m. – Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center
(Shared concert with FHSU choirs)
Poulenc – Gloria
Berlioz – Symphonie Fantastique