By Request: You Decide, We Perform

/>The concert program this weekend, performed at Scottsdale Center for the Arts, the Mesa Arts Center and the Orpheum Theatre, comes with a twist: you picked it! In an era of “on demand” movies, television and online music, it seems fitting that a new level of interactivity be added to the symphony experience. In October, at the first Phoenix Symphony concert of the season held at those locations, ballots were distributed on which audience members could cast their vote for the pieces they most wanted to hear. The result is a program filled with the beloved sounds of Mozart, Smetana, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven. Close runners-up included Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, Tchaikovsky’s March Slave, and the Stokowski orchestration of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue.

The concert program this weekend, performed at Scottsdale Center for the Arts, the Mesa Arts Center and the Orpheum Theatre, comes with a twist: you picked it! In an era of “on demand” movies, television and online music, it seems fitting that a new level of interactivity be added to the symphony experience. In October, at the first Phoenix Symphony concert of the season held at those locations, ballots were distributed on which audience members could cast their vote for the pieces they most wanted to hear. The result is a program filled with the beloved sounds of Mozart, Smetana, Rachmaninoff and Beethoven. Close runners-up included Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, Tchaikovsky’s March Slave, and the Stokowski orchestration of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue.

Adding to the excitement will be pianist Spencer Myer who, since the start of the new year, has already appeared with the symphonies of Santa Fe and Indianapolis and also performed solo recitals in Ohio, Tennessee, New York and South Africa. Spencer’s website is a wealth of interactive information and numerous audio and video clips from his past performances. This weekend he will lend his remarkable talent to Rachmaninoff’s daring Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. If you attend this weekend, let us know what you thought of your program!