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HOLIDAY 2021: 69
on stage and the musicians love
working with him.”
IMPROVISED CONCERTS
Like everyone else the BSO was
sidelined during the pandemic
and organizers had to come up
with creative ways to keep their
subscribers engaged.
“In March of 2020, it became
clear that the world was shutting
down and we shut down with
it,” Schillhammer said. “We had
two remaining concerts on our
subscription season and we
rescheduled those for October.
“Things didn’t get any better so we
performed those concerts virtually.
We had a professional videographer
and engineer record and produce
the concert and sent it out to all
subscribers and single ticket buyers
for their viewing one week after the
concert took place. That went over
very well. We also marketed it to
nonticket holders for a suggested
donation of $20 although the
average donation was $28. We
delivered all the concerts, albeit in a
different format.”
When the King Center reopened in
December 2020, the BSO performed
to a live masked and socially
distanced audience for the first ever
holiday Sounds of the Season concert.
Even the musicians were masked and
socially distanced with the exception
of the wind and brass players who
had to unmask when playing but
masked back up when they weren’t.
“We reimagined the 2021 season
that was to run January-April
2021,” Schillhammer continued.
“All nine subscription concerts
were performed on stage to a small
socially distanced audience and
recorded and streamed to those who
felt safer watching it from home.”
Individual BSO musicians stepped
up to lift the spirits of symphony
aficionados during the pandemic
by recording and sharing online
performances from their homes.
The online mini-concerts are still
available on the BSO website.
BREVARD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Christopher Confessore, music director and principal conductor,
took to the podium when the orchestra opened its new season.
Holly Mulcahy
will perform a
violin concerto in
January that she
commissioned
from film composer
George S. Clinton.
BACK ON STAGE
The BSO can’t wait to perform live again at the
King Center this season. Opening night of the
BSO’s 68th season was Oct.16 with a global
performance of symphonies in Around the World
in 80 Minutes. Concertgoers were treated to a
magical, musical journey with a program of
familiar light classical works. The tour stopped
in England, Italy, France, Egypt, Norway and
Imperial Russia before heading back home with
the feeling that you’ve circumnavigated the globe.
On Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m., close friends and
colleagues, young Mozart and Papa Haydn, star
in The Mozart Effect featuring Mozart’s Piano
Concerto No. 21 and Haydn’s final symphony.
The delightful Masques et Bergamasques by Fauré
starts the show.
Home is where the heart is during the Letters
from Home concert at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22.
Composers on this program take you through
incredible storytelling, sentimentality, and rustic
folk songs. Holly Mulcahy will perform The Rose
of Sonora, the violin concerto she commissioned
from film composer George S. Clinton.
A 90th birthday tribute will celebrate The Wondrous
World of John Williams on Feb. 5 at 2 and
7:30 p.m. Steven Spielberg once said, “Without
John Williams, bikes don’t really fly, nor do
brooms do Quidditch matches, nor do men in red
capes. There is no Force, dinosaurs do not walk