--Season opens September 16--

The Waterloo-Cedar  Falls Symphony's 2007-08 season, led by Music Director Jason Weinberger, will offer a wide variety of outstanding music performances from renowned guest artists including the up and coming composer Philip Wharton and unconventional cellist Matt Haimovitz. There are three additional events which subscribers can purchase by adding them to their ticket package as well. The season will feature five Classical concerts, two Pops concerts, two Family concerts, a Chamber Music performance and a Chamber Orchestra performance. In addition, a free Sturgis Falls pre-season performance will be offered this summer.

WCFSO Music Director Jason Weinberger says, “The arts are thriving in Iowa in the new millennium, and in recent years the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony has played an increasingly important role in the multi-faceted creative life of our state. Our focus this season will be on presenting unique programs with ties to Iowa and encouraging interdisciplinary collaborations between diverse artists and organizations in our state.”

___________________________________________________

Sunday, June 24 / 3:45 p.m., Overman Park / Cedar Falls

Free Pops concert, part of the Sturgis Falls Celebration

Sponsored by Iowa Laser Technology and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare

One of the Cedar Valley’s greatest attributes is its wealth of scenic outdoor locales and open-air events like the Sturgis Falls Celebration.  Our season-long series of collaborations with Iowa artists kicks off with the sultry sophistication of local vocalist Kathie Barry, joined by the orchestra and her husband (and WCFSO Principal Oboe) Tom Barry on sax.

Sunday, September 16 / 2:00 p.m. 

Music from the End of Time

Chamber Music / Davis Hall, Gallagher-Bluedorn

In conjunction with the UNI Holocaust Remembrance and Education Program

In partnership with UNI’s highly successful Holocaust Remembrance and Education Program, Jason is joined by WCFSO musicians Jonathan Chenoweth, Anita Tucker and Sean Botkin to present Olivier Messiaen’s 1941 masterpiece Quartet for the End of Time, first performed by Messiaen during captivity at the Stalag VIIIA prisoner-of-war camp in Germany. The program will also feature Paul Hindemith's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano and Duo for Violin and Cello by Erwin Schulhoff, both Holocaust-era composers.

This concert is not part of any 2007-08 season ticket package.  As an add-on event, it sold out the last three years.  Those wishing to attend this are encouraged to get tickets early.

Saturday, October 6 / 7:30 p.m. 

The Russian Connection

Matt Haimovitz, cello

Sponsored by Century 21 LSB Real Estate/LSB

Many instances of cultural exchange exist between Americans and Russians, among them American Samuel Barber’s Cello Concerto, originally written for Russian-born cellist Raya Garbousova, to be performed by world-renowned Israeli cellist Matt Haimovitz. Bookending Barber’s concerto are two uniquely Russian works – Shostakovich’s blazing Festive Overture and Tchaikovsky’s Little Russian Symphony.

Sunday, October 21 / 2:00 p.m. 

Just Beyond the Junkyard

Tales & Scales

Sponsored by Fox 28 (media sponsor)

The first family concert of the season, Just Beyond the Junkyard, featuring the acclaimed ‘music-telling’ troupe Tales & Scales, tells the story of Renny Hall – a little girl who lives near an inner-city junkyard where her resourcefulness and vivid imagination allow her to enter a kingdom of magical transformations.

Along with the symphony’s Instrument Petting Zoo, the popular Hearst Center pre-concert

craft activity will once again be held in the lobby at 12:30 p.m. as an add-on event.

Saturday, November 3 / 7:30 p.m. 

Gary Kelley’s Planets,Gary Kelley, artist

Sponsored by Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare and Dunakey & Klatt P.C. 

Our November program brings together both musical and visual arts in a compelling new way. Celebrated Cedar Valley artist Gary Kelley re-imagines Gustav Holst’s The Planets as a visual allegory based on the composer’s own astrological conception of the planets. Kelley’s vision will be presented on screens above the orchestra, cued to the orchestra’s live performance of The Planets. Also on the program is Mozart's Symphony No. 41 in C Major 'Jupiter'. 

Saturday, December 15 / 2:00 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. 

Holiday Pops / A Mannheim Holiday

Lis March and Sweet Adelines

Sponsored by Waterloo Industries and Courier Communications

This year’s Holiday Pops will feature the wildly popular music of Chip Davis and Mannheim Steamroller. Joining the orchestra will be local vocal standout Lis March and the energetic and entertaining Cedar Harmony Chorus of Sweet Adelines International.

Saturday, January 12 / 7:30 p.m. 

A Family Affair

Chamber Orchestra / Oster Regent Theatre

Philip Wharton, composer residency

Many people first encounter music with family. In a few remarkable families, such as the Bach and Mozart clans, music becomes the fabric of family life. Our chamber concert musical selections explore music from these two famous families, with Bach's Musical Offering: Ricercare (arr. Webern) and Mozart's Concerto for Violin in B-flat. Other ways of exploring familial connections come through

works written for family members, such as Richard Wagner's Siegfried Idyll and a new work by 2007-08 composer-in-residence Philip Wharton, who will also perform Mozart's intimate concerto.

The popular pre-concert dinner at Montage continues this season, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Choose from three entrées with salad, vegetable, coffee, tax and gratuity included.  (Cash bar available.)  Seating is limited and this event sells out quickly.

Saturday, February 2 / 7:30 p.m. 

Shakespeare in Love

Claudia Anderson, flute

Sponsored by LSB Financial and Northland Products

No writer has been more inspiring to composers than William Shakespeare, whose gift for illuminating human passion and emotion is unparalled. Get ready for Valentine’s Day with music based on two of Shakespeare’s love-themed plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet. Our series of Iowa collaborations continues with a recent American flute concerto by Lowell Liebermann, to be performed by WCFSO Principal Flute Claudia Anderson.

Sunday, February 17 / 2:00 p.m.

Cowboys of the Americas

Calle Sur

Sponsored by Fox 28  (media sponsor)

Our partnerships with Iowa artists kicks into a gallop with a fun, informative concert co-created with the educators and performers of Iowa-based Latin duo Calle Sur. From the whistle of a Wild West cowboy tune to the folk sounds of Latin American gauchos, this program will broaden the audience’s understanding of our country and of our southern neighbors. The symphony’s Instrument Petting Zoo will be available for hands-on exploration in the lobby before the concert.

Saturday, March 1 / 7:30 p.m. 

German Requiems

John Hines and Rosemary Gast, vocal soloists

The Metropolitan Chorale and Wartburg Choir

Sponsored by Lockard Companies and US Bank

The centerpiece of our March program is Johannes Brahms' humanistic German Requiem, Ein deutches Requiem. Joining the WCFSO in this multi-institutional collaboration are the Metropolitan Chorale and the Wartburg Choir, along with UNI faculty member John Hines and Wartburg faculty member Rosemary Gast. Preceding the stirring requiem is Metamorphosen, a work by Richard Strauss for 23 solo string players, composed as a lament for German culture and art after the Munich Staatstheater was destroyed in 1943.

Saturday, April 5 / 7:30 p.m. 

Accidental Americans

Alexander Solomon, piano

Sponsored by Cardinal Construction

The final classical concert of the season features the music of two European composers with close ties to America. Sergei Rachmaninoff, on one of several American tours, premiered his famous Third Piano Concerto, performed tonight by world-renowned pianist Alexander Solomon. Antonín Dvořák is best known to Iowans for his summer stay in Spillville, Iowa during his relocation to American in the 1890s. His joyous Eighth Symphony provides the perfect close to our classical season’s celebration of artists in Iowa! 

Saturday, April 26 ( 7:30 p.m.) / Sunday, April 27 ( 2:00 p.m.)

Spring Pops / BRAVO BROADWAY!

Sponsored by Waterloo Industries, John Deere Waterloo Operations and Mix 96 (media sponsor)

Your WCFSO hosts renowned Broadway stars Debbie Gravitte, Doug LaBrecque and Anne Runolfsson in a night of familiar favorites from Chicago, Phantom of the Opera, Cabaret, Wicked and The Wizard of Oz!

May 10

Home Cookin’

Iowa Composer’s Forum Project

Bringing our season of collaborations with Iowa artists to a close, this special event with the Iowa Composer’s Forum demonstrates how varied and exciting Iowa music is today. It is also our most in depth experience with the music currently being created in our midst. Our program is the first new music concert by a major Iowa orchestra is several years.

Artists and programs are subject to change.  All concerts, unless otherwise noted, will be performed at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center.

Season tickets are on sale now. Single tickets go on sale to the general public June 11.

If you are not on the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony’s mailing list and would like to receive a brochure, call 319-273-3373 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it You may also call the number listed here to order season tickets.  More details on the 2007-08 symphony season will be available at wcfsymphony.org after May 2.