From TOLEDO ALLIANCE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
On Friday, June 7, at 8 p.m. at the Toledo Museum of Art’s Peristyle Theater, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) will conclude its 75th Anniversary Season with Beatles Concerto, a program featuring Associate Concertmaster Téa Prokes, as violin soloist.
Tickets are available at toledosymphony.com or by calling the box office at 419.246.8000.
Seventy-five years ago, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra emerged as a small ensemble of twenty-two musicians known as the “Friends of Music” that performed a three-concert season in various venues around the Toledo area. Since then, the orchestra has grown into one of the country’s most respected regional orchestras, celebrated nationally for its educational outreach and commitment to artistic excellence.
“Over the past 75 years, our orchestra has grown substantially in size and in caliber,” said Zak Vassar, President & CEO of the Toledo Symphony. “It’s amazing to reflect on where we began and where we are today. You don’t often find world-class musicians in a city of our size. Toledo is unique in that way. We’ve certainly reached an incredible milestone within our own organization and within our community.”
“What surprised me the most when I first came to Toledo was how much this city had to offer,” says Alain Trudel, Music Director of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. “There’s so much spirit and vitality in Toledo, and our flourishing arts scene continues to drive the momentum. It’s been a monumental season, and I look forward to what’s ahead.”
The program on Friday evening highlights music written by legends of pop culture. Associate Concertmaster Téa Prokes joins the TSO to perform Maxime Goulet’s Beatles Fantasy, a work featuring the rock group’s most famous songs in classical arrangements. The program closes with American composer Michael Daugherty’s Metropolis Symphony, a work inspired by Superman comics and American culture.
“I am so excited to collaborate with Maestro Trudel and the TSO to perform Goulet’s Beatles Fantasy on our 2019 season finale,” says Téa Prokes, Associate Concertmaster for the TSO. “This concerto is lots of fun and it’s a perfect way to celebrate the culmination of another wonderful season with the orchestra. Goulet takes the Beatles tunes you know and love and weaves them into an incredibly virtuosic, inventive, and explosively energetic concerto. I have always loved the Beatles and I can’t wait to share this piece with our audience—it’s a party on stage!”
Téa Prokes joined the First Violin section of the TSO in January 2013 and assumed her current position as Associate Concertmaster in 2014. Prokes has appeared as a soloist with the TSO on numerous occasions, performing works by Vaughan Williams, Vivaldi, and Schnittke, and was honored to perform the world premiere of Hewitt Jones’ Christmas Party! in 2017. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra, the Amherst Symphony, and the Clarence Summer Orchestra.
