As the new Music Director and Conductor of Symphony Viva, it is my distinct honor to welcome you to Viva’s fifth season of music-making! To match this milestone, the 2020-2021 season will offer five exciting performances that we hope will inspire and move you during this challenging moment in history.
Symphony Viva is proud to present three outdoor orchestral concerts full of beautiful and varied repertoire, inspiring soloists, and thought-provoking themes. From the intimate setting of our first concert “Elements”, which brings the listener into the sound worlds of each of the constituent parts of the orchestra (the strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion), to the grandeur of our June 2021 performance “Viva Extravaganza”, which presents Beethoven’s magnificent “Emperor” Piano Concerto alongside Respighi’s hair-raising tone poem Pines of Rome, I hope there will be moments that engage, inspire, and move you, no matter your musical taste or experience.
Viva’s yearly collaboration with the wonderful Alamo City Dance Company brings two masterpieces to the stage this season. An exciting virtual production of the Nutcracker will be released in December, and Prokofiev’s Cinderella will take flight (either in-person or virtually) this coming May.
As we navigate the Covid-19 pandemic and plan ways to keep our audience, musicians, and staff safe, multiple health safety measure will be employed to mitigate the risk of infection throughout our season. With this in mind, a limited number of tickets will be available for in-person, socially-distanced seating at each performance, and a ticketed online video production of the concert will be released shortly thereafter. Please check our website (http://www.alamocityperformingartsassociation.com) for tickets and more information regarding these protocols.
Whether you will be joining us in-person at our outdoor performance series beginning at the Botanical Gardens in November or virtually for our annual Nutcracker collaboration and other live-recorded performance offerings online, please know that you are a crucial and valued part of our music-making process. The immersive and inspiring experience of sharing and listening to great musical works is needed now more than ever, especially as the ways in which we interact continue to evolve and change. Thank you as always for your support of the incredible work of these musicians, our ballet partners, and the Alamo City Performing Arts Association. On behalf of the Executive Board of the ACPAA, the Alamo City Dance Company, and Symphony Viva, I wish you a safe and hopeful season, and I look forward to seeing you at our concerts and ballet productions in the months ahead!
All best wishes, Joseph T. Kneer Music Director and Conductor Symphony Viva
