The Sidney Classical Orchestra returns this season with its traditional collection of four concerts at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church in Sidney.
Artistic director and conductor Stephen Brown says this is the twenty-first year for the SCO, a smaller, community orchestra bringing lighter classical works to intimate audiences. In fact, people get up close to the musicians during each performance. Brown said the orchestra prefers to set up off of the stage, allowing seats to surround them and people to be able to see how it’s really done.
Opening the season this Friday, Nov. 8 will be violinist Nancy DiNovo, currently based in Vancouver but whose parents live in Sidney. DiNovo is a former member of the St. Louis, Toronto and Boston Symphony Orchestras and founding concertmaster of the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra,. She is frequently heard as a soloist and chamber musician on the west coast and on Friday will perform W. A. Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major.
Brown said this year’s four-concert lineup is ideal for the SCO.
“We had dropped it to three and even took a year off in the past,” he said, “but we have had the continued support of our audience here on the Peninsula.”
Brown added the SCO also found some new funding sources to be able to continue to pay their musicians.
Run by a board of volunteers, keeping the professional SCO alive and well could be a full-time job. Brown said through grants, donations and ticket sales, they are able to continue to bring classical music to local audiences.
Violin Virtuosity on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m., featuring DiNovo opens the 2013/14 SCO season. It features works by Vivaldo, Mozart, Haydn, Holst and Boyce.
That is followed by A Cluster of Concertos on Jan. 31, 7:30 p.m., the Young Soloists and the SCO on Sunday, March 2 at 2 p.m. and concluding with Romantic Piano in the Classical Era on Friday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m.
All concerts take place at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church, 10030 Third Street in Sidney.