Wichita Symphony

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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