A message from maestro Ben Wade
“High Hopes, Word of Mouth, Join the Journey — Those are my three ‘slogans’ to challenge and encourage our audience for the 2022-2023 concert season,” said conductor and artistic director Ben Wade. “But before we dig in and discuss those wonderful words of affirmation and love, let me just say this: Can you believe it? Season 19 in the books. The Spring of 2003 — the beginning of it all. The Lassen Community College Orchestra performed its first concert. Most of us did it as a lark. Some of us (not I) thought we could last a few years … but as Phill Collins said in one of his platinum albums ‘Take a look at me (US) now.’ If you build it, they will come. (I keep saying that about a performing arts center).”
“High Hopes: As with every season, my goal as the artistic director, is to bring you bigger performances, better musical quality and an overall sense of great accomplishment. When you come to a concert, we (the musicians and I) expecy you to have a great time. When you leave the concert, I expect you to be buzzing, full of energy and unable to hold in your excitement for the magic and music that just occurred. This leads me to my next point.
“Word of Mouth: Without you, the patron, we would simply pack up our instruments and baton, our music, our bows and mallets … and go home. We need you to come and listen to all we have accomplished. Just as important, we need you to tell a friend. Invite someone to come. Don’t take the Susanville Symphony for granted and just expect us to be here years from now. We must grow, we must challenge ourselves, and we must converge on the music scene in Susanville like never before.
“Join the Journey: In the beginning of time (or at least as far as the Susanville Symphony is concerned), our patrons bought season tickets, moved their vacations around our concert season and made a valiant attempt to attend each concert. In recent years, the trend has been to pick and choose certain concerts, and then life gets in the way and the road to heaven is paved with good intentions. Our concert numbers drop, our season tickets holders dwindle and it is hard for musicians and board members alike to plan. Join our journey: the whole journey. We have grown tremendously in all of our shows, and you will not come to a single concert and leave disappointed!
“In conclusion: Thank you for supporting the arts. Thank you for attending and being a part of our beloved symphony. Now it’s time to buy a season ticket, invite someone to the concert and spread the word of music and magic that we strive to create year after year.”