By Abbey Snow 

MLN 

The Southern Nevada Symphony Orchestra delivered the first concert of its fourth season on Nov. 18 with an inspiring and timely theme of the “Sounds of the Great,” and dedicating special musical numbers to recent tragic events. 

As with past concerts, SNSO performed in the CasaBlanca Showroom with the highest of technical music skills to another sold-out audience, who showed their appreciation with a standing ovation at the conclusion of the concert. 

“The Southern Nevada Symphony Orchestra’s opening of the fourth concert season, ‘Sounds of the Great,’ was especially meaningful to the attending audience honoring the many victims, family members, and first responders in the Las Vegas and Texas church shootings,” said SNSO President and Conductor Dr. Selmer SpitzerIn respect, the Southern Nevada Symphony Orchestra opened the concert with its first selection playing John Dykes’ Navy Hymn followed with a period of silence without applause.” 

Sherry Gosdis-Hospadura and her husband Charles Hospadura have been supporting and attending SNSO from their first concert.  

“We enjoy the local flavor of it,”GosdisHospadura said We see our friends and neighbors in a lovely venue.  Also, we are very proud of the performers and how much talent is in our community.  There is a nice mixture of age groups represented among the performers.” 

 The concert then continued with Verdi’s well known “Overture to Nabucco,” Edvard Grieg’s “The Holberg Suite,” Wolfgang Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” and closed with George Warren’s “God of Our Fathers.” 

GosdisHospadura said Charles was already familiar with the pieces being performed at the concert. As they discussed them, it increased their enjoyment and appreciation. 

With increased and continued public support of SNSO and the sold-out concerts, a larger venue would be welcome and necessary in the near future, said Spitzer. 

Spitzer said he and the orchestra are excited about the next concert performance which will include Tami Sillitoe, a local oboe soloist, performing Philip Parker’s “Soliloquy and Dance.” Also, local resident Barry Bowers will be performing Joel Jacklish’s “Rondo in a minor for Viola and Orchestra.” Other scheduled numbers include Joseph Haydn’s “Symphony No. 70,” along with closing the concert with John Philip Sousa’s “Washington Post Concert March.” 

Krissy Ayon, director of Entertainment at Mesquite Gaming, said they see a widely diverse audience in the CasaBlanca Showroom with every genre of music presented. 

There is a huge love for classical music, and it’s probably the rarest to see performed live in this area,” Ayon said So, when the opportunity to hear and see the greats performed live with a full orchestra is presented, the community responds quickly and with enthusiasm.  

Ayon also mentioned that when SNSO performs, she sees a combination of our regular concert goers, regular “symphony only” attendees and lots of new faces each time.   

“It’s great when they see friends there, and it does become a lovely social gathering of the local residents,” Ayon said. “There are quite a few attendees that are from surrounding communities as well, including Southern Utah and all the way south to Vegas.”   

According to Spitzer, among the many positive comments the public makes, the one most expressed is that they are grateful to have a quality, full-sized symphony orchestra here locally performing the great classics along with modern musical compositions.