Garland Symphony Orchestra opens its 2016-17 season, “Symphony Goes Wild!” Oct.14. All GSO performances are at 8 p.m. at the Granville Arts Center, 300 North Fifth Street in downtown Garland.
Composers have always taken inspiration from nature, so it is no surprise that many have picked up their pens to give us musical depictions of the fascinating creatures with whom we share the planet. Throughout the 2016-17 season, the talented musicians of the GSO will offer audiences the most delightful and entertaining of these philharmonic fauna, from the smallest (Shostakovich’s gadfly) to the largest (Saint-Saëns’ elephants). GSO’s musical zoo will include bears (Haydn and Bartok), horses (Auber), penguins (Scott) and even a cow (Milhaud). A few mythical animals will come to musical life as well, including Stravinsky’s “Firebird” and Debussy’s “Faun.” It’s a symphonic safari not to be missed!
The concert will feature violinist, Kiarra Saito-Beckman performing Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto in D Major.” Kiarra Saito-Beckman, 17, is a violinist from Bend, Oregon. She is currently a sophomore at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studies with the world-renowned pedagogue Jaime Laredo and former associate concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Jan Mark Sloman. Kiarra has won numerous awards and competitions. In May of 2016 she was a semi-finalist in the Stulberg International String Competition. She placed first in the 2015 National Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Senior Strings Competition, was named the PepsiCo National Young Artist of the Year as the first-prize winner of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra’s National Young Artist Competition in South Carolina. In 2014, Kiarra placed second in the ENKOR International Violin and Piano Competition, as well as second in the Young Artist National Competition held by the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra. She competed as a finalist in the 2014 MTNA National Solo Competition in Chicago, Illinois as the winner of the MTNA Northwest Regional Competition and Oregon State Competition.
Kiarra has appea
red as a guest soloist with the Charleston, South Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Symphony Orchestra and an orchestra composed of members of the Oregon Symphony and the Oregon Ballet Theater Orchestra. She has twice been featured as a guest soloist with the Central Oregon Symphony.
In the fall of 2014, Kiarra performed on the Washington DC National Public Radio program, “From the Top,” and she has been a featured performer on the Oregon Public Broadcasting radio program, as well as the Portland, Oregon-based station, All Classical, and most recently, “TedxBend.” As a violinist, Kiarra has been the recipient of numerous prestigious scholarships.
GSO credits Music Director Robert Carter Austin for its continued outstanding and diverse orchestral programming. Austin’s background encompasses over 30 years of professional music experience and includes degrees from MIT, Cambridge University, and Stanford University. He has conducted performances in countries including: Korea, Ukraine, Canada, Italy, Spain, China, France, Germany, Mexico, Bulgaria, Ecuador, Colombia, Philippines, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and the United States.
Season tickets are as low as $61. Single tickets are $17.50 – $37.50. Call 972-926-0611, fax 972-926-0811 or email info@garlandsymphony.org. For more information, visit www.garlandsymphony.org.