Symphony Sets Next Season’S Dates

The Spokane Symphony’s new season includes a pair of string geniuses.

The first is Janos Starker, one of the world’s leading cellists. The second is Mark O’Connor, Nashville’s top fiddler and a man who has lately made a mark in the classical world as well with his “Appalachian Suite.”

Starker leads the 10-concert Classics series; O’Connor is the top dawg in the six-concert SuperPops series.

Here are some of the highlights of the various symphony series for the 2000-2001 season:

* Guest artists — Besides Starker (Nov. 17), the Classics series will welcome violinist Elmar Oliveira (Sept. 15), pianist Markus Groh (Oct. 6), violinist Stephanie Chase (Jan. 26), pianist Aida Ribeiro (Feb. 16), soprano Carole Farley (March 9), pianist Pascal Roge (March 30, 2001) and soprano Caroline Whisnant (April 20).

* Tops of the Pops — The SuperPops series features the Canadian Brass (Sept. 22), Sandy Duncan (Oct. 21), Holiday Pops (Dec. 16-17), Walt Wagner (Feb. 3), Radio Days (March 17) and Mark O’Connor (May 5, 2001).

* The Giants — The enduring names of music are well represented, including Beethoven (Symphony No. 2), Tchaikovsky (Symphony No. 4 and “Hamlet”), Mozart (Symphony No. 35 “Haffner” and Piano Concert No. 24), Mahler (Symphony No. 5) and Brahms (Violin Concerto).

* The 20th Century — The Classics series also features pieces by Samuel Barber, William Walton, Bela Bartok and Spokane’s own Don Caron (“Paradigm Shifts”). Ravel is well represented with “Tzigane,” Concerto for Left Hand and Concerto in G. Starker will play Dvorak’s Cello Concerto on a program that also includes Corigliano’s “Voyage” and Copland’s Symphony No. 3.

* Choral music — Can’t get enough of “Carmina Burana”? The symphony, Spokane Symphony Chorale and Spokane Children’s Chorus combine for this monumental work on Oct. 27. The All-Shakespeare Program, on April 20, 2001, will feature arias from Barber’s “Anthony and Cleopatra.”

* Symphony at The Met — The three-concert Met series, the most intimate of the symphony’s series, features harpsichordist Ilton Wjuniski in a program of Bach, Haydn, de Falla and Martinu (Nov. 5 and 7); violinist Tracy Dunlop in “Mozart A to Z,” (Jan. 6); and pianist Tian Ying playing Shostakovich and Beethoven.

In addition, the symphony will present a three-concert Coeur d’Alene series, the annual “Nutcracker” collaboration with Alberta Ballet and a reprise of the New Year’s Eve Gala.

For information and a season brochure, contact the symphony box office at 624-1200.

Symphony’s scope

This might be a good time to explain exactly how impressive the Spokane Symphony is as a cultural force in this town. Here are a few numbers, from the symphony office:

The symphony will sell about 60,000 tickets this season.

If you add in all of the attendance at free outdoors concerts, the number more than doubles.

Classical music, it seems, is anything but dead.

Soprano replacement

Soprano Julie Newell, scheduled as the guest artist in the March 24 Spokane Symphony concert, has not yet recovered from throat surgery. She has been replaced by New York-based soprano Bridgett Hooks.

Concertmaster Kelly Farris is another casualty. He broke his leg in two places playing soccer recently. But apparently he can still play the fiddle. He will be at the concert, cast and all.

KXLY hires anchor

KXLY-4 has finally hired a co-anchor to join anchor Richard Brown.

Susanna Baylon, a morning anchor at Bay News 9 in Tampa, Fla., will arrive on April 1 (or soon after) to handle the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news.

Baylon has a bachelor’s degree from Kent State University and a master’s degree from Syracuse University. She won a regional Emmy Award in 1999 for a news special on Peru’s Incan civilization.

Brown has been without a co-anchor since Marianne Mishima left in November.

The morning battle

Last week I pointed out that the RadioMen at KKZX-FM have been the No. 1 morning team for 11 straight quarters.

However, the Breakfast Boys at KZZU-FM have their own streak going, this one in the ratings category known as “cume,” which is short for cumulative. It measures the number of different people who listened to the station for a minimum of five minutes during a week. The Breakfast Boys have been No. 1 in “cume” for 13 straight ratings periods.

What it boils down to is this: The RadioMen have more people listening at any one time (based on share, the most common rating measure), but the Breakfast Boys have more total listeners over a week, although they don’t necessarily listen as long.

Or, here’s what it really boils down to: Both teams are very popular.

A guitar fest

The city will be crawling with classical guitarists April 6-8 when Whitworth College hosts the 10th annual Northwest Guitar Festival and Competition.

Many of the top classical guitarists from around the Northwest will be presenting master classes, lectures and recitals.

Four days of competition will conclude with the finals of the Guitar Northwest Competition on April 8. All events will be in the Recital Hall at Whitworth College.

For registration information, call Paul Grove at 468-8423.