Circle these 7 Hot Summer Nights festival performances on your calendar
Each summer, the Missouri Symphony Orchestra tunes up to thrill music lovers, delivering a remarkable array of performances in about six weeks with its Hot Summer Nights festival.
Summer 2022, creatively speaking, is no exception. This year's festival will feature Mozart and Marie Osmond, intimate chamber pieces and the beloved bombast of patriotic pops.
But this year, Hot Summer Nights takes on added meaning. Concertgoers will not only hear the past tones and present tense of art music; they also will bear witness to the orchestra's future as four prospective music director candidates will visit Columbia to lead performances.
While each concert promises musical delights, these seven offerings highlight the orchestra's range — as well as each music director candidate on approach.
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June 15: Symphony in Motion
Before spotlighting its music director candidates, the orchestra kicks off the season and welcomes back longtime leader Kirk Trevor to guide a collaboration with the athletic artists of Missouri Contemporary Ballet. $25-$50; Missouri Theatre.
June 18: Singing in the Key of Freedom
Guest conductor Brandon Boyd — a professor at the University of Missouri — and a community chorale will join the orchestra, collaborating to offer songs in the spirit of Juneteenth, the holiday which marks the message of emancipation reaching Texas in 1865 and the real end of slavery. $25; Missouri Theatre.
June 25: Show-Me America
With candidate Wilbur Lin at the podium, the orchestra will perform repertoire by well-loved composers such as Duke Ellington, big-screen icon John Williams and mid-Missouri musical hero John William "Blind" Boone. Free; Stephens Lake Amphitheater.
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June 29: The New World and Beyond
Dvorak's "New World" symphony paces a program that also features the likes of Liszt and modern Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. Seizing the baton is candidate Michelle Di Russo. $25-$50; Missouri Theatre.
July 7: Made in America
Part of the festival's chamber offerings, this set adds to the Independence Day celebration by focusing on American composers. $20; Whitmore Recital Hall at MU.
July 9: Femmes de légende
In this program, whose title translates "women of legend," candidate Chelsea Gallo will lead an appealing program of work by composers such as Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Jennifer Higdon; the evening will also feature the symphony's most recent Young Artist Concerto Competition winner. $25-$50; Missouri Theatre.
July 16: Back to Broadway
Led by candidate Darwin Aquino, this performance gathers considerable talent — including former Miss Missouri Shelby Ringdahl and the locally-forged Melissa Bohon-Webel — to pay homage to the greats of musical theater. $25 to $60; Missouri Theatre.
Find more information, including the entire Hot Summer Nights schedule, at https://themosy.org/summer-music-festival/.
Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731. Find him on Twitter @aarikdanielsen.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Circle these 7 Hot Summer Nights concerts on your calendar
