Signature Symphony at TCC Conductor Candidates Debut During 2014-2015 Season

The 2014-2015 season for the Signature Symphony at Tulsa Community College promises variety as the three finalists for the professional orchestra’s artistic director and conductor showcase their talents.

Conductor candidates Andrés Franco, Michael Rossi and Timothy Verville will each conduct one performance for the TTCU Pops series and one performance for the Williams Classics series during the upcoming season.

Franco, Rossi and Verville were named as finalists for Artistic Director and Conductor of the Signature Symphony and chosen from a pool of more than 50 applicants during a nationwide search that began when Dr. Barry Epperley announced he would step down on July 31, 2014.

The 2014-2015 season will be incorporated into the selection process as the performances give additional insight to the selection committee before its decision in spring 2015.

“This will be a great opportunity for the arts community to see different conductor styles as each candidates takes the baton,” said TCC Southeast Campus Provost and Conductor Search Committee Chair Dr. Brett Campbell. “We will see the creativity these conductors can bring to the professional orchestra as well as how they shape the sound and how they work with our Signature Symphony musicians and chorale members.”

Rossi will kick off the TTCU Pops series with “George Gershwin’s Americana” on Friday, Sept. 12 and Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014. The concert will feature works from the American born composer who created some of music history’s most cherished melodies in songs and orchestra arrangements. Rossi will return to Tulsa for the first Classics concert of 2015 to conduct Verdi, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. The performance on Jan. 24, 2015 will feature Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino,” Shostakovich’s “2nd Cello Concerto” and Tchaikovsky’s “5th Symphony,” the Symphony of Fate.

Verville will kick off the Williams Classics series on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014 by conducting the “8th Symphony” by Dvorak, a composer who created music that came from and appealed to the heart. The second musical selection of the evening will be Grieg’s “Piano Concerto,” considered by some as the brightest star among the piano concerti repertoire. Verville will return for the TTCU Pops concert on Friday, Nov. 7 and Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014 featuring the music from stage and film, “Memorable Melodies and Memorable Moments.” The musical stars of Broadway and Hollywood will feature names like Elmer Bernstein, Meredith Wilson, Nino Rota, Hans Zimmer and movies like “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The Godfather” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Franco will take his turn at the podium with a Classics performance of Rodrigo and Tchaikovsky on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014. The “Concierto de Aranjuez” stands as one of Rodrigo’s earliest compositions and immediately established him as one of the most significant Spanish composers of the 20th century. Similarly, Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 4” established him as Russia’s greatest symphonist and is recognized as one of his personal favorites. Franco will return Friday, Feb. 6 and Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015 for a Pops performance of the “Music of John Williams.” From “Star Wars” to “Harry Potter” to music from the pilot of“Gilligan’s Island,” Williams may be America’s brightest composer with 41 Oscar nominations and 20-plus gold and platinum recordings.

Four guest conductors, including an appearance by Dr. Barry Epperley, will complete the 2014-2015 Signature Symphony season. Epperley returns to the podium for a Tulsa tradition, the “Signature Symphony’s Christmas Concert” on Friday, Dec. 12 and Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014. The Signature Big Band returns in a cavalcade of stars from the Big Band era on Friday, March 13 and Saturday, March 14, 2015. The music of love will dominate the Classics series on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 with selections from “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Flying Dutchman” and the music of Borodin’s Prince Igor with University of Tulsa’s Rick Wagner as maestro. Murry Sidlin will return to conduct the “Verdi Requiem – The Defiant Requiem” on Saturday, April 18, 2015 to close the Classics season. Intrigued by the story and the nagging question of why a group of Jewish prisoners would learn and sing the “Verdi Requiem” (a Catholic Mass), Maestro Sidlin personally undertook to research the story and find any surviving members of the chorus. His passion and commitment to honoring these survivors, and all victims of Terezín, led to the creation of “The Defiant Requiem.”

You can reserve your 2014-2015 season tickets by calling the TCC Southeast Campus VanTrease Performing Arts Center for Education ticket office at (918) 595-7777.