After a dormant year, Clinton Symphony Orchestra season opens Sept. 18

CLINTON, Iowa – Following a season of inactivity because of the pandemic, the Clinton Symphony Orchestra, which features many musicians from the Sauk Valley, will resume full operation in September.

The season will open Sept. 18 with an indoor concert at the Vernon Cook Theater at Clinton High School.

Music Director and Conductor Brian Dollinger, who plays double bass, will be joined by Western Illinois University faculty violist Istvan Szabo in “Sinfonia Concertante for Double Bass and Viola” by Dittersdorf.

Szabo will be the soloist in “Fantasie for Viola & Orchestra” by Hummel, and Gluck’s “Dance of the Furies” from his opera Orpheus and Eurydice; Mozart’s “Divertimento in D Major” will wrap up the concert.

The 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, a celebration interrupted by COVID-19, will be observed in a concert Nov. 6 at Centennial Auditorium in Sterling.

The annual Holiday Concert, featuring music of the season, will be performed Dec. 11 back at Vernon Cook Theater, and chamber music is on tap Jan. 16 at Zion Lutheran Church in Clinton.

The February concert will feature the annual “Young Artist” performance; this year’s high school soloist will be chosen after auditions in January, and will perform with the orchestra at 2 p.m. Feb. 19 in the Morrison High School auditorium.

To finish the indoor concert season, on April 30 in Vernon Cook Theater, the orchestra will perform a program intended for April of last year, featuring violinist Naha Greenholtz, concertmaster of the Quad City Symphony.

Adult admission is $20; all students are admitted free of charge, and any student 18 or younger may bring an adult for half-price admission.

Season tickets for all six concerts are available at clintonsymphony.org or at the door of the first concert for $90, a 25% savings over the full individual concert price.

Season tickets also can be ordered at CSO, P.O. Box 116, Clinton, IA 52733-0116.

Go to the CSO website for concert details and more information. Executive Director Robert Whipple can be reached at 815-632-0190.