American Playlist

We kick off our season in glittering Big Apple style with music celebrating both the glamour and grit of New York City. We’ll go straight to Manhattan with Leonard Bernstein’s jazzy On the Town and the spectacular Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. We’ll also be joined by pianist Alexander Tutunov performing the show-stopping Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin, who defined an era of New York’s best songs and shows. This dazzling concert of New York’s greatest hits will be an Opening Night you won’t want to miss!

Bernstein — Three Dance Episodes from On the Town
Bernstein — West Side Story Symphonic Dances
Gershwin — Rhapsody in Blue
Gershwin — I Got Rhythm Variations
With Alexander Tutunov, Piano

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While living in New York, Czech composer Antonin Dvořák became interested in Native American music and African-American spirituals. His Symphony No. 9—From the New World, is a thrilling and poignant synthesis of American folk and indigenous melodies woven into the traditional Western symphonic structure and is one of the most popular masterworks in the orchestral repertoire. We will introduce our audience to Joan Tower’s Grammy Award-winning composition Made in America, which weaves America the Beautiful into an intriguing and haunting tone poem. And we’re thrilled to feature the TSO’s own principal oboe, Alyssa Morris, performing her own composition—Dreamscape, a concerto for oboe and orchestra.

Joan Tower — Made in America
Alyssa Morris — Dreamscape — Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra
With Alyssa Morris, Oboe
Dvořák — Symphony No. 9 — From the New World

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Capitol Federal^® Holiday Concert

The holiday season is a time for nostalgia and revisiting the memories and music of our childhoods. We remember decorating our homes, gathering with friends and family, eating our favorite holiday foods, and snowball fights. Our American Christmas concert will feature holiday songs you’ve loved your whole life, and we will give you a chance to share them with your family and loved ones at the symphony. Our holiday concert is always one of our biggest hits all season and this year will be no exception! Don’t delay—get your tickets early so you won’t miss the wonderful music and special snowy surprise this year!

Favorite holiday classics

Mozart’s music has been used to sell cars, Nikes, pancakes, instant coffee, iPods, cable service—even dog food. It has appeared in such wide-ranging films as Batman, Alien, The Shawshank Redemption, Elvira Madigan, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and There’s Something About Mary, among countless others. Mozart has proved his enduring power not only in the concert hall but in how many times his music has been used in popular culture. This concert will feature Mozart’s pieces that have taken on a new life in American popular culture and are familiar to everyone, even those who have never set foot in a concert hall or bought a classical recording. We’re very excited to feature rising star Marika Bournaki as our soloist for Mozart’s most beloved piano concerto.

Mozart — Overture to the Abduction from the Seraglio
Mozart — Piano Concerto No. 21 — Elvira Madigan
With Marika Bournaki, Piano
Mozart — Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music)
Mozart — Symphony No. 40

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We look to the great American landscape as our inspiration for this concert which will feature not only great music, but also beautiful and inspirational photography. Aaron Copland’s Outdoor Overture will get us out into the fresh air. Then we will move to the majestic mountains, trees, rivers, and coastlines in Dave and Chris Brubeck’s Ansel Adams: America, featuring a spectacular slideshow of the great photographer’s works. And we bring rising superstar violinist Tessa Lark to Topeka to perform Sky, a bluegrass-inspired concerto that will absolutely bring down the house. We will also feature local Topeka composer Robert Johnson’s Celebration Overture. Do not miss this amazing chance to see—and hear—America the Beautiful!

Copland — An Outdoor Overture
Dave and Chris Brubeck — Ansel Adams America
Robert L. Johnson — Celebration Overture
Michael Torke — Sky — Concerto for Violin
With Tessa Lark, Violin

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CANCELED
We are sorry to announce that the Topeka Symphony Orchestra concert on Saturday, April 4, 2020, “The Great American Road Trip,” has been canceled due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. We are, of course, very disappointed, but we believe the cancellation is in the best interests of all concerned. The TSO is offering a voucher for tickets purchased for the April 4 concert that can be redeemed for a future TSO concert. Please contact the Topeka Symphony office for details at 785-232-2032 or email tso@topekasymphony.org

Spotify Playlist for this concert.

CANCELED
We are sorry to announce that the Topeka Symphony Orchestra concert on Saturday, May 2, 2020, “Star Wars,” has been canceled due to continuing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. We are, of course, very disappointed to end our season this way, but in these challenging times we all must do our best to be part of the solution.

Ticket holders for the May 2 concert have the following options:

1) Consider your ticket purchase a donation. As a nonprofit arts organization, the TSO relies on ticket sales for a significant portion of our funding. All ticket donations will receive a tax credit letter at the end of the 2020 calendar year.

2) Exchange your tickets for a concert during the 2020-2021 season which will begin in late September, 2020. Please contact the TSO office for details. 785-232-2032 or email tso@topekasymphony.org

Spotify Playlist for this concert.