Fennelly: Macon Symphony Orchestra draws large and diverse crowd to season opener
The Macon Symphony Orchestra’s 2015-16 season is off to a wildly exciting start. Central High School graduate Roderick Cox opened the MSO season Saturday night to not only a huge crowd, but one diverse in both age and ethnicity.
The throng at the Grand Opera House was a thing of beauty, and for two hours or so it reminded us of what Macon could be.
Cox, eloquent in his remarks on the transformative power of music, spoke to an audience packed with Central students who had heard him the day before, plus teachers and coaches from his time in band and on the Mock Trial Team.
Cox has traveled many miles in the 10 years that have passed, and is now assistant conductor for the Minnesota Orchestra.
He reported that he often encounters former students from the McDuffie Center for Strings -- which, by the way, will be presenting the closing concert for the Labor Day Festival for Strings on Monday.
Also in the crowd was another one of Macon’s youthful success stories: Soprano Jasmine Habersham, recently returned from New York’s famed Glimmerglass Festival of opera and music.
Earlier in the day, I also noticed that another of Macon’s famous voices, Mercerian Leah Partridge, will be singing the role of Musetta when the Atlanta Opera opens “La Boheme” in October.
Clearly, when we talk of Macon’s glory days of music, we should speak of the present as well as the past.
MACON POPS
With apologies to Shelley, if the MSO season has opened, can the Macon Pops be far behind? No indeed: Steve Moretti and Matt Catingub, a class act by any yardstick, are preparing for Sept. 18 and “The Best of the ’70s” at the City Auditorium. If you love to dance, this is the place.
THEATER ARRIVES
While some seasons opened this summer, now things really burst forth. Macon Little Theatre is entering the final weekend of “On Golden Pond,” while Theatre Macon is opening “Swell Party” to launch its new season, with “Crimes of the Heart” coming to Warner Robins Little Theatre on Sept. 11.
There’s also excitement at the Douglass Theatre. Close on the heels of their “Douglass Goes Digital Celebration” comes the hugely popular Benedict Cumberbatch in the National Theatre production of “Hamlet,” airing Oct. 18.
Contact Larry Fennelly at LarryFennelly@avantguild.com.
This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Fennelly: Macon Symphony Orchestra draws large and diverse crowd to season opener ."