Season of the Bozeman Symphony begins

Although the auditorium at Wilson School was packed with people, it was completely silent this past Saturday at 7:30 p.m. On the stage, dozens of musicians — taut bows ready to fire — watched the center of the stage with complete focus. On a raised platform, the maestro stood with his arms by his side and his baton in hand. All the tension in the room was collected in his frame. In an instant, his arms shot up and the sound of the orchestra swelled outward like a wave.

This was the scene at the opening weekend of the Bozeman Symphony’s 2024-2025 season and its 57th year of operation. This performance was Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with special guest Vijay Venkatesh. According to the program notes, Venkatesh “has been recognized on three continents as a pianist with profound musicianship, sparkling pianism and an innate sense of partnership.”

Members of the orchestra describe the growth of the symphony and the exhilaration of playing in it.

Jeffrey Vick, a percussionist who played with the Bozeman Symphony for 35 years, recounted how it has grown since his arrival. “The season now has seven concerts,” Vick said. “Plus a student concert, plus three other Bozeman symphony — or two other Bozeman Symphony presents concerts plus two choral concerts — it's a very different gig now than it was at that point in time, 35 years ago.”

Besides the packed auditorium, evidence of the symphony’s recent growth and success comes with a new five-year strategic initiative unveiled with the opening season. According to the 2024-2025 concert season program, year one will focus on concert expansion, community impact and collaboration with other regional arts organizations on a future home for the symphony.

The growth can be attributed to Music Director Norman Huynh. According to the concert season program, since Huynh’s arrival as the Music Director in 2020, “the organization has celebrated record success, growing from 881 to more than 1,300 subscribers in just two seasons, with 200 percent growth in ticket revenue and numerous sold out shows.”

While Huynh leads the charge as a dynamic and visionary music director, the success of the orchestra depends on the talented and dedicated musicians who play in it. Madeleine Folkerts, principal horn for the orchestra, shared what it is like playing with the Bozeman Symphony. “I really do like the kind of enormity that a symphony can produce when everyone's up there, just, you know, playing as loud and full and joyously as they can,” she said.

Vick gave more details on what it's like to play in the symphony. “It physically and emotionally can be exhilarating and exhausting at the same time,” he said. Having performed an astonishing 2,164 shows in his lifetime — 295 with the Bozeman Symphony — it seems that no number of shows can take the magic out of performance for him.

Referencing famous composer Leonard Bernstein, Vick described the “musical dialogue” that exists between the conductor, the orchestra and the audience. “Bernstein described it as, you know, I've got the score, I'm giving the orchestra what I think they should be doing, and they're playing it back for me. And we're making these decisions without saying any words, but just completely visually,” he said.

The main event of the opening weekend was Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, with the piano played by Venkatesh. In a pre-show presentation featuring Venkatesh and Huynh, the duo discussed the difficulty of the concerto and the staggering 29,035 notes in the piano score. When asked how he could remember such a large piece, Venkatesh said, “I mean, this is a piece I actually learned when I was in my early 20s, back when I didn’t really know what fear was.”

If you are worried that the symphony is not the scene for you, fear not! Just before the show began on Saturday, after telling the crowd that 29 MSU fraternity members were in attendance, Huynh threw a fist in the air and shouted, “Young people at the symphony! Yay!”

The 2024-2025 season has shows until its season finale on June 8, 2025. A full list of its events can be found at bozemansymphony.org. For shows which are not sold out, students can buy same-day Student RUSH tickets for ten dollars at the box office.

According to its website, “The Box Office team will announce the availability of Student RUSH tickets to the general public on the concert webpage 48 hours before the actual performances.”