The Ozark Festival Orchestra, based in Monett, will open its 45th season with a concert at 3 p.m. on Oct. 13 at the Monett High School Performing Arts Center, located at 1 David Sippy Drive in Monett.
This will be a homecoming concert, featuring the return of violin virtuoso and Monett native Monte Belknap.
Carla Wootton returns for her second year as the OFO’s music director. She will lead the orchestra with Belknap as soloist on the Violin Concerto in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn, one of the most beloved pieces in the classical music repertory.
Belknap, a 1982 Monett High School graduate, gave his first public recital in Monett in 1982. He soloed with the OFO in 2005 and 2008, in concertos by Paganini and Max Bruch. On this concert, he will also play from Max Bruch’s “Scottish Fantasy” and additional pieces, including an arrangement of Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.”
Belknap teaches at Brigham Young University School of Music and has performed as soloist with orchestras around the world.
The OFO will also perform the overture to Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide” and “Summer” from Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla’s “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.”
The Ozark Festival Orchestra’s founder, Carolyn Belknap, is also expected at the concert. This will be her first visit to the OFO since the 30th season 15 years ago. Belknap and her late husband Carl had a music studio in Monett in the 1980s, and through their teaching and collaboration with musicians in the Monett area, the OFO organized.
Local players in the orchestra for this concert include David Oliphant, Christina Oliphant, Jennifer Oliphant, Katie Oliphant, Michele Oliphant, Moira Oliphant, Trent Oliphant, all of Cassville; LeAna Colf, of Seligman; Holly Thompson, of Eagle Rock; Nancy Hitchcock, of Rocky Comfort; Phyllis Garrett, Carol Dahlstrom, Mareena Snarey, Elizabeth Snarey, Gina Milburn, Stephanie Stovall, all of Monett; Murray Bishoff, Julie Waetke-Bishoff, and Jaden Russell, all of Pierce City; and Jana Wilson, of Aurora.
Admission to the concert will be $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens, and free to children high school age and younger.
Mike and Marty Scabarozi, of Monett, are sponsors for this concert.
Based in Monett, the OFO is a community orchestra composed of players from southwest Missouri and nearby towns, focusing primarily on classical music. The orchestra is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization supported by sponsors, memberships, local foundations, ads in the orchestra program book, and funds managed by the Monett Community Foundation.
Additional information is available at www. ozarkfestivalorchestra. org or Facebook/Ozark Festival Orchestra.
