Wichita Symphony

13-14 Season | Bugs Bunny at the Symphony II

Saturday, September 28 @8pm Sunday, September 29 @ 2pm
Century II Convention Hall

Created and conducted by GEORGE DAUGHERTY, the Wichita Symphony begins the new concert season with a mega-symphonic hit for all ages this September: BUGS BUNNY AT THE SYMPHONY II. This multimedia extravaganza brings the mischievous shenanigans of BUGS BUNNY, ELMER FUDD, and friends to Wichita.

Experience the exhilarating magic of Carl Stalling's original cartoon scores, as inspired by the symphonic masterpieces of Rossini, Strauss, Wagner, and others.  The comic genius of LOONEY TUNES classics like What's Opera, Doc? and The Rabbit of Seville will be projected on the big screen above, while the Wichita Symphony provides the soundtrack LIVE on the Concert Hall stage of Century II.

LOONEY TUNES and all related characters and elements are
trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
(s13)

13-14 Season | The Rite of Spring

Saturday, October 12 @ 8pm Sunday, October 13 @ 3pm
Century II Concert Hall

French composers Ravel and Poulenc serve as pillars for Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, the exhilarating yet controversial piece that changed symphonic music forever. Rite of Spring celebrates its 100 anniversary as the Wichita Symphony opens its 70th Classics season with this spectacular concert.

RAVEL Daphnis and Chloe: Suite No. 2
POULENC Concerto in D minor for Two Pianos
featuring Christina and Michelle Naughton
STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring

View videos for these pieces and our guest soloists below

13-14 Season | Rachmaninoff's Third

Saturday, October 26 @ 8pm Sunday, October 27 @ 3pm
Century II Concert Hall

Rachmaninoff's titan of a piano concerto headlines a concert rich with virtuosity and flare from all corners of the Orchestra. Hear two Hungarian inspired works with Bartok's fantastical Miraculous Mandarin Suite , never before performed by the Wichita Symphony (excerpt below in the video section), and the wonderful textures of Brahms in his Hungarian Dances No. 1 and 5.

BRAHMS Hungarian Dances No. 1 and 5
BARTOK The Miraculous Mandarin Suite
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor
featuring Joyce Yang

View videos for these pieces and our guest soloists below

13-14 Season | Concertmaster Harrison Plays Mendelssohn

Saturday, November 16 @ 8pm Sunday, November 17 @ 3pm
Century II Concert Hall

The spotlight is on the string section for a program of tremendous beauty. Experience Thomas Canning's intimate "Fantasy on a Hymn by Justin Morgan" for string orchestra, followed by the Wichita Symphony's  very own concertmaster John Harrison in Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.

CANNING Fantasy on a Hymn by Justin Morgan
MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in E Minor
featuring WSO Concertmaster John Harrison
BEETHOVEN Symphony no. 2 in D Major

View videos for these pieces and our guest soloists below

13-14 Season | FRANCK SYMPHONY

Saturday, January 18 @ 8pm Sunday, January 19 @ 3pm
Century II Concert Hall

Guest conductor Maximiano Valdés joins the Wichita Symphony in a concert full of Latin flare and French romance. Leading young cellist Julian Schwarz appears as guest soloist to perform French composer Camille Saint-Saëns's Cello Concerto No. 1, preceded by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera's Pampeana No. 3. The concert concludes with César Franck's brooding Symphony in D Minor.

GINASTERA: Pampeana No. 3
SAINT-SAENS: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor
featuring cellist Julian Schwarz
FRANCK: Symphony in D Minor

13-14 Season | Cirque de la Symphonie in Blue Jeans

Friday, January 31, 2014 @ 8pm
Century II Concert Hall

Prepare to be dazzled once more as Cirque de la Symphonie returns to Wichita, this year  for our annual Blue Jeans and Popular Classics Concerts. Experience all the wonder and excitement of a big top production, set to the music of a live symphony orchestra. Artists include the most amazing veterans of exceptional cirque programs throughout the world—aerial flyers, acrobats, contortionists, dancers, jugglers, balancers, and strongmen.

View videos for these pieces and our guest soloists below

Check our Facebook as we reveal more concerts for the 2013-2014 season this week.

13-14 Season | Cirque de la Symphonie: Popular Classics

Saturday, February 1, 2014 @ 8pm Sunday, February 2, 2013 @ 3pm
Century II Concert Hall

Prepare to be dazzled once more as Cirque de la Symphonie returns to Wichita, this year  for our annual Popular Classics and Blue Jeans Concerts. Experience all the wonder and excitement of a big top production, set to the music of a live symphony orchestra. Artists include the most amazing veterans of exceptional cirque programs throughout the world—aerial flyers, acrobats, contortionists, dancers, jugglers, balancers, and strongmen.

View videos for these pieces and our guest soloists below

13-14 Season | Three Phantoms in Concert™

Saturday, February 8, 2014 @ 8pm
Century II Concert Hall

Just in time for Valentine's Day, the Wichita Symphony Winter Pops concert brings three of Broadway's leading men to town for a celebration of Broadway with THREE PHANTOMS IN CONCERT ™.

Featuring solos, duets, and trios from the Great White Way, this concert will be the perfect date night! Hear hits from shows like Damn Yankees, Les Miserables, South Pacific, and of course, The Phantom of the Opera. Celebrate Valentine's Day early with a night of musical romance and comedy. Craig Schulman, Ciaran Sheehan, and Ron Bohmer - linked by their starring roles in Phantom of the Opera - combine their extensive Broadway credentials for this evening sure to warm the hearts of any music lover.

13-14 Season | The New World

Saturday, February 15, 2014 @ 8pm Sunday, February 16, 2014 @ 3pm
Century II Concert Hall

The Wichita Symphony celebrates the music of "The New World," from Dvorák's Ninth Symphony, "From the New World," to Eric Ewazen's "Shadowcatcher" based on the Native American Portraits by photographer Edward Curtis and music from the motion picture "Dances with Wolves." The Wichita Symphony is proud to welcome the highly renowned American Brass Quintet for this concert.

JOHN BARRY: Dances with Wolves Suite
EWAZEN: Shadowcatcher
featuring the American Brass Quintet
DVORAK: Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, "From the New World"

View videos for these pieces and our guest soloists below

13-14 Season | The Romantic

Saturday, March 15, 2014 @ 8pm Sunday, March 16, 2014 @ 3pm
Century II Concert Hall

Passions run high in a concert of Wagner, Bruckner and Liszt. Wagner's infamous overture, "Ride of the Valkyries," begins the program with a heated battle cry, followed by Franz Liszt's First Piano Concerto, performed by William Wolfram with the Orchestra. Finally we end our program with Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4, nicknamed the "Romantic."

WAGNER: Ride of the Valkyries
LISZT: Piano Concerto no. 1 in E-Flat Major
featuring pianist William Wolfram
BRUCKNER: Symphony no. 4, "Romantic"

View videos for these pieces and our guest soloists below

13-14 Season | Ode to Joy

Saturday, April 5, 2014 @ 8pm Sunday, April 6, 2014 @3pm
Century II Concert Hall

The 2013-2014 Classics will leave Wichita audiences with pure joy as we conclude with Beethoven's triumphant Ninth Symphony. We welcome four soloists and the Wichita Symphony Orchestra Chorus for this massive work, as well as for Vaughan Williams's  transcendent Serenade to Music.

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Serenade to Music
BEETHOVEN: Symphony 9 in D Minor

Barbara Shirvis, soprano
Barbara Rearick, alto
Matthew Di Battista, tenor
Peter Van de Graaff, bass

View videos for these pieces below

13-14 Season | Live and Let Die: A Symphonic Tribute to the Music of Paul McCartney

Saturday, May 3, 2014 @ 8PM
Century II Convention Hall

This concert brings you the greatest hits of The Beatles and McCartney's band, Wings, in a symphonic tribute to Paul McCartney starring Tony Kishman, regarded by "Beatlemaniacs" as the world's best McCartney look-alike/sound-alike (look at his photo below!) with the full backing of the Wichita Symphony. The playlist includes classics like Eleanor Rigby, Band on the Run, When I'm 64, Bluebird, Get Back, and much, much more!