TEXARKANA, Texas -- Texarkana Symphony Orchestra begins a new season Saturday with a theme of togetherness, some of the most iconic compositions in history and one of the most celebrated violinists on Earth, all in a recently spruced up Perot Theatre downtown.
"Together Texarkana: A Season of Unity and Harmony Through Music" begins with a concert titled "Heroic Voices" comprising pieces by Sergei Prokofiev, Felix Mendelssohn and Ludwig van Beethoven, featuring renowned violinist Philippe Quint.
The season's theme is a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, TSO Executive Director Andrew Clark said.
"The goal and sense about it is to celebrate the fact that we've come this far through COVID, that humanity's spirit and ingenuity was heroic enough to help us get there," he said.
Music Director Philip Mann said TSO has weathered the pandemic with extraordinary resilience perhaps unrecognized locally.
"The TSO has truly been a leader in nonprofits and the performing arts, particularly in this region of the country, in allowing our musicians to play during this time, very smartly, with the best advice of public health professionals and physicians and others with whom we consult.
"But people have truly looked at the TSO as a model of keeping the music going during this challenging time. And I think that's a story that everyone in Texarkana can be very proud of," he said.
The concert will be the first performance in the Perot since TSO took over the theater's management, and Mann promises a revitalized environmental experience for both audience and performers, thanks to some long-needed refurbishment. Improvements include new lighting and signage, better access to concessions, modernized backstage spaces for performers and lots of fresh paint.
"For me personally just walking in the hall, it feels it feels more vibrant," he said. "There's a real sense of rejuvenation."
The Prokofiev piece, Overture on Hebrew Themes, op. 34a, written in New York City, blends the composer's interests in Judaic music and American culture, Mann said.
"I find that it has outrageous character. It has a sensibility to it that just immediately brings a smile to your face. There's there's kind of a smoky mysteriousness to these these sinewy melodies that seem to be kind of exploring and discovering things in real time with the listener. It's a real joy to play this piece," he said.
Mendelssohn's Concerto for Violin in E minor, op. 64, is "one of the great violin concerti in the repertoire," and soloist Quint "one of the finest living violinists," Mann said.
"It's a work that every string player knows and that many of our audience, if not all of our audience, will probably recognize whether they know the title or not," he said. "It has a freshness, a virtuosity of some hauntingly beautiful melodies."
Quint is "the kind of an artist that not only is a showman and can take the audience on a journey -- and you can tell the audiences immediately gravitate towards him, he has a magnetic personality with audiences -- but at the same time, he's a musician's musician in that he immediately garners the respect and admiration of the orchestra," he said.
It is "hard to understate the importance of Beethoven's 'Eroica,'" his Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, op. 55, Mann said.
"When people go to conservatory to study, this is the piece that many people learn as the most important piece of Western classical music. The piece that changed music forever, that changed the role of the composer forever, that changed the genre of symphony. ...
"For audiences, though, this might not always be immediately apparent. What you will know, what you'll hear as an audience member, is classic Beethoven, the classic showman, the ability to grab your attention and hold it, to set you up with expectations and then surprise you with the results," he said.
(The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Perot Theatre, 221 Main St. Tickets are available at perottheatre.org, texarkanasymphony.org and at the door.)