Harrisburg Orchestra Announces 2008-2009 Season

A special highlight of the Masterworks Series will be two concert performances of the classic Puccini opera, "Tosca," on April 25 & 26, 2009. For those performances the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra will be joined by four vocal soloists as well as the Susquehanna Chorale and the Messiah College Concert Choir. The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles projected on a screen above the orchestra.

The Masterworks Series will also feature symphonies by Howard Hanson, Beethoven, Mahler, Erwin Schulhoff, Shostakovich, and Tchaikovsky.

Soloists will include violinist Kurt Nikkanen and local cellist Daniel Gaisford, HSO principal oboist Alicia Chapman, pianists Andrew von Oeyen and Tanya Bannister and Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Odin Rathnam.

A dramatic rise in the popularity of the Capital BlueCross series in recent seasons led to the expansion from three to four concerts in 2008-2009. Executive Director Jeff Woodruff said of the expansion, "Stuart has really created a buzz with this series and we thought the time was right to give the public more of what it wants. We discussed the idea with the series sponsor, Capital BlueCross, and they enthusiastically supported our decision to go to four concerts."

The Capital BlueCross Pops season will open on the weekend of October 25-26, 2008 with a program devoted to "The Great Epic Film Scores."

The orchestra will continue its tradition in recent seasons of bringing the tuneful and hilarious world of Gilbert & Sullivan to the Forum stage with two performances of Iolanthe on February 7-8, 2009. A comic opera about an exiled fairy, Iolanthe is wrought with social commentary and satirical jabs.

A 100th birthday tribute to Benny Goodman featuring clarinet sensation Dave Bennett and another trip to Broadway with a show entitled "The Three Broadway Divas!" will wrap up the Capital BlueCross Pops series.

Both the Masterworks and Capital BlueCross Pops series offer subscription packages. The Pops series offers a Full Season subscription to the four concerts and the Masterworks series is available in four packages including Full Season, "Mini-4," "Mini-3" and "Snowbird" subscriptions.

In addition to a discount of up to 39% off single ticket prices, season subscribers enjoy reserved seating at the Forum and a subscription to the Fanfare newsletter. Season subscribers also qualify for the Symphony's very liberal exchange policy allowing them the opportunity to exchange tickets for a different performance date or return unused tickets for a tax credit. Ticket exchanges and returns must be handled by the Symphony Box Office at least 24 hours prior to the concert.

The Harrisburg Symphony is proud to continue "Get Hooked on the Classics," the specially priced new subscriber program launched during the 2007-08 season. The program offers a 50% discount off the regular subscription rate to anyone who has never subscribed to the Masterworks Full Season. There are seven seating areas to choose from, presenting options for every budget. -- www.harrisburgsymphony.org