Shown are members of the string section as they perform during Salute to America, the annual patriotic concert the Symphony of the Lakes performs at the Miller Sunset Pavilion in Winona Lake. Photo provided by Terry White.

By Lauren Zeugner
InkFreeNews

WARSAW  — Have you ever gone to a symphony concert? There’s excitement in the air as you settle into your seat and the orchestra goes through its final fine tuning before the conductor takes center stage, raises his baton and launches the musicians into the first movement of the piece of music on the program.

Kosciusko County has a long history of orchestra, wind and symphony groups performing, from Herbert Petrie, Wagon Wheel’s founder, holding band camps in the 1950s, to Grace College’s Masterworks Festival. Eventually, different groups morphed into what became known as Symphony of the Lakes in 2005.

In 2015, Symphony of the Lakes came under the Wagon Wheel’s umbrella. The symphony was under the direction of Thomas Stirling until his untimely death in 2018. In 2021, Jason Thompson, professor of music at Indiana Wesleyan University, was named principal conductor and artistic director.

Thompson was no stranger to the symphony having been a guest conductor in the past.

The symphony is made up of 65 professional musicians. Terry White, a Wagon Wheel board member, explained there is no place in the county where the entire orchestra fits comfortably for a performance.

“We don’t often have a full orchestra sound,” he said.

While most symphony orchestra’s perform for a season, typically starting in the fall and going through to the spring, the Symphony of the Lakes performs year-round. White said typically the symphony will perform bigger concerts in April and in October, and there’s the Salute to America concert around the Fourth of July and then they do smaller performances usually featuring principal players from different sections of the orchestra.

For example, at the end of February there was a wind quintet performance and a few months before that there was a string quartet concert.

“It is a remarkably capable and high quality orchestra,” White said.

As artistic director, Thompson explained he looks at the needs of the community and what excites the community when picking music for the orchestra. Deciding what to play is a balancing act of providing great classical orchestra music along with orchestral pops and featuring composers who may be new to audience members.

Noting orchestral music is used in film scores and in video games. Thompson noted, “People are probably hearing more orchestral music than before.” He said the challenge is in encouraging those people to experience the full sound of an orchestra performing.

Many of the professional musicians, who perform with Symphony of the Lakes, also work in other jobs as well as play with other orchestras in the area. When preparing for a concert, Thompson explained the musicians receive their music about a month before a performance. They will then come together as a full orchestra to rehearse one to three times before a concert.

So for the Salute to America Concert, the orchestra rehearses right before the concert. For other performances, rehearsals will be held Thursday and Friday as well as Saturday afternoon before a Saturday night concert.

Before the orchestra even gets to rehearsal, Thompson has to have the entire season programmed about a year in advance. Currently, he’s working on what the orchestra will perform next year.

The Symphony of the Lakes is part of a music coalition, which meets once a month to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to upcoming performances in the arts. Other members of the coalition include the Warsaw Community High School PAC, the Choral Arts Society and Grace College.

Since the symphony is under the Wagon Wheel umbrella, Thompson has also worked to collaborate with other parts of Wagon Wheel to bring in audience members. As an example, the symphony’s next performance will be “Hobbits and Fairies,” which will feature Mendelssohn”s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with scenes from Shakespeare’s play, directed by Kira Lace Hawkins, as well as music by composer Howard Shore from “Lord of the Rings Trilogy.” The performance is at 7 p.m. April 27, at the Wagon Wheel Theatre. Tickets are $20.

Both White and Thompson noted along with more audience members, the symphony needs donors, both individual and corporate.

“Professional musicians work very hard. We try to pay them as well as possible. Ticket sales are a mere fraction of that it costs to put on a performance,” Thompson said.

For more information on making a donation or becoming a donor, visit wagonwheelcenter.org or call (574) 267-8041.