Glacier Symphony adapts concert season around pandemic

As the saying goes….”The show must go on!” Tickets and seating may be limited and other changes will have to be implemented to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines but, nevertheless, the Glacier Symphony, Orchestra and Chorale has planned its 2020-2021 concert season to begin Sept. 26 and 27.

Titled “20 microcosms 21,” the season emerges in a new atmosphere.

The definition of “microcosm” — encapsulating in miniature the characteristic features of something much larger — gives a hint as to its nature.

In monitoring federal, state and local guidelines and recommendations to ensure the well-being of performers, staff, volunteers and patrons, performances won’t be conducted in the usual way.

“Sometimes difficult circumstances allow for new opportunities,” said John Zoltek, music director and conductor. “A chamber orchestra of 20 to 25 musicians or less will allow for appropriate distancing on and off stage, creating new spaces for a different kind of performance presentation and ultimately for a fresh sound world, one that is more individually driven and transparent, like chamber music.”

Earlier this summer the Glacier Symphony presented a concert fundraising event at Rebecca Farm with a small string orchestra and internationally acclaimed violinist, Will Hagen. The concert quickly sold out once tickets were offered and the response from attendees was overwhelmingly enthusiastic and positive.

The “20 microcosms 21” season will kick off Sept. 26 and also include world-class guest soloists in several of its concerts: Rodolfo Leone, winner of the 2017 Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna, who will help celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven; GSC audience favorite, violinist Kinga Augustyn; and jazz vocalist Halie Loren, who will perform at the Masquerade Gala in January.

A special feature of the upcoming orchestral season is the highlighting of two of the orchestra’s longtime members as soloists — principal flutist, Beth Pirrie, and principal bassoonist, Alicia McLean-Brischli.

The season’s orchestral program selections will include everything from Classical era repertoire by Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn to Modern composers Aaron Copland (“Appalachian Spring” in the original 13-piece orchestra version), Charles Ives, Argentine Astor Piazzola, and Seattle-based Uruguayan-American composer Miguel del Águila.

The Glacier Symphony Chorale will be presenting choral selections from the popular Handel’s Messiah in three area churches in December and also an all-choral concert in November with three smaller chamber choirs. Chorale conductor Micah Hunter has planned a program for that concert that he says, “presents a set of music spanning many genres and periods of history. This beautiful choral music captures and presents many of the fundamental elements that define these genres and periods of history, creating portraits in time for our audience.”

Tickets for the concerts will be limited in each venue, to be determined by COVID-19 guidelines as it gets closer to concert time. Those COVID-19 guidelines will also be observed at all concerts. Only pre-concert reserved seating will be sold. There will be no tickets sold at the door. Single tickets for the “20 microcosms 21” are on sale now. Single tickets and packages can be purchased by calling the box office at 406-407-7000. Due to social distancing concerns, there will be no online tickets sales from the website this year. But more specific information for each concert can be found on the website glaciersymphony.org.

For more information, call the Glacier Symphony Orchestra and Chorale Office at 406-407-7000 or email nancy@gscmusic.org