TEXARKANA REPERTORY COMPANY
“The Odd Couple”—Sept. 7-16 on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays
“Shakespeare in Love”— Nov. 2-11 on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays
“The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time”— Feb. 8-17 on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays
More info @ TexRep.org
Since the TSO’s first concert in April of 2006, its players have brought top orchestral selections to the Perot Theatre stage and other local venues, the musical brilliance ranging from Beethoven to Mozart and more contemporary composers like Texarkana native Clint Needham.
TSO concerts have also featured top young musicians arriving here to perform as guest artists, including classical guitarist Jason Vieaux and pianist Luis Sanchez this past season. Prior to that, the Perot stage was graced with the presence of cellist Zuill Bailey, Grammy-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin and violinist Elena Urioste. They’re just a few of the superlative musicians who’ve played with the TSO crew.
The TSO has, year in and year out, also performed an eclectic, adventurous mix of music at its concerts, presenting both classical masterworks and pops concerts. A recent endeavor has been holding chamber concerts at Texas A&M UniversityTexarkana. The TSO has also committed to student concerts, which educate local youth about symphonic music, and the TSO has its young symphony players, the Texarkana Youth Symphony Orchestra.
The TSO was launched when Remica Gray, Mary Scott Goode and Marc-André Bougie came together to make a longtime dream for Texarkana happen. A Junior League of Texarkana gift of $100,000 helped cement its start with seed money for this project.
Until this upcoming 20182019 season, which will be the symphony’s 13th season, Bougie served as conductor. For most of this time, he also served as music director. The TSO has embarked on what looks to be a two-year process to find a replacement, and in the interim a series of guest conductors will guide the TSO musicians at each concert.
This upcoming season begins Oct. 6 with a masterworks repertoire that includes Schoenberg, Mendelssohn and Elgar. Steven Jarvi serves as guest conductor with concertmaster Kiril Laskarov featured on violin. Then, on Dec. 9, it’s the TSO’s annual Christmas concert with Don Howren as guest conductor and the Texarkana Jazz Orchestra as special guests.
On Feb. 2, the TSO performs Brahms and Rachmaninoff with Larry Loh as guest conductor and Natasha Paremski featured on piano. The third masterworks concert follows March 2 with Vivaldi, Piazzolla and Tchaikovsky.
The season rounds out with a second pops concert, a performance of “The Wizard of Oz” score on April 6, Daniel Black guest conducting.