By Ruth Firestone
\nHays music lover
\n\u201cSymphonic Expedition\u201d is the theme of the Hays Symphony Orchestra\u2019s 2018-19 season, and it looks like it will be its most glorious venture yet. Under the baton of Shah Sadikov and a host of symphony guild volunteers, the HSO has made steady gains in every direction \u2013 innovative repertoire that appeals to a wide range of interests, high quality concerts, and post-concert opportunities for artists and audiences to mingle while enjoying delicious refreshments.<\/p>\n
And all this is provided by generous sponsors. Every concert is free and open to all who wish to attend.<\/p>\n
For the first time ever, musicians from the FHSU Department of Music and the HSO will perform a pre-season pops concert, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24, at the Downtown Hays Pavilion, 10th and Main, as part of the Hays Arts Council\u2019s Fall Gallery Walk.<\/p>\n
The official season-opener will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, in the Beach\/Schmidt Performing Arts Center in Sheridan Hall on the FHSU campus. Guest pianist Behzod Abduraimov and the orchestra will perform the \u201cPiano Concerto in A minor,\u201d by Edvard Grieg.<\/p>\n
Abduraimov, a native of Uzbekistan, is well-known throughout Europe and the United States. Grieg\u2019s piano concerto is one of those rare compositions that keeps on thrilling audiences whether they have heard it once or a thousand times.<\/p>\n
Among other concerts will be the annual Children\u2019s Halloween Concert, with its costumed parade around Beach\/Schmidt, featuring Igor Stravinsky\u2019s ballet \u201cThe Firebird,\u201d adapted by Catherine Trietschmann and directed by Erin Renard, with local actors.<\/p>\n
A Winter Vespers concert in St. Joseph Church, Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m. will star the orchestra and FHSU choirs in Handel\u2019s \u201cMessiah.\u201d<\/p>\n
The New Year also holds great promise, with a Valentine\u2019s concert, a Viennese Classics concert, the annual New Music Festival and the Cottonwood International Baroque Masters Festival. The HSO and FHSU Choirs will collaborate in the Grand Finale Concert, with a performance of Rutter\u2019s \u201cGloria,\u201d Tchaikovsky\u2019s \u201cPathetique\u201d (Symphony No. 6 in B minor) and the world premiere of a composition by FHSU\u2019s own Dr. Tim Rolls.<\/p>\n