60th Anniversary Collaboration with the Waco Symphony
Our January 2023 concert, “A Magical Evening in the American West,” with the Waco Symphony Orchestra has several noteworthy things going on. Firstly, the program is part of the WSO’s 60th Anniversary season and happens to coincide with orchestra’s music director search following Maestro Stephen Heyde’s accomplished 35-year tenure. It will also be Westwater Arts’s first collaboration with the WSO and we’re going big with our sweeping visual concerto Grand Canyon Country.
Set to Ferde Grofé’s monumental Grand Canyon Suite, the visual accompaniment explores the iconic natural wonder from river to rim. Originally co-commissioned by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and The Phoenix Symphony to commemorate Arizona’s state centennial, it has been performed for audiences across the U.S. and has toured in Germany and Poland. Coincidentally, it came full circle when Tucson and Phoenix welcomed us back to kick off the centennial of Grand Canyon National Park in 2019.
The photographic production brought Nicholas Bardonnay and retired Westwater Arts founder, James Westwater, to the Grand Canyon region for over two months to capture thousands of images—including during a 9-day raft trip down the Colorado River! Adding to the stunning scenery from the canyon is imagery they shot in the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest National Park, Antelope Canyon, as well as at a lively, small town pick-up rodeo just outside the Grand Canyon in Williams, AZ for the emblematic On the Trail movement. Taken together, the piece is truly a visual-musical feast from the entire Grand Canyon region.
Rounding out the western-themed program at Waco Hall on the Baylor University campus are Albert’s Western Suite, Copland’s Old American Songs, and Tiomkin’s High Noon Symphonic Suite. Please join us for a jaw droppin’ good time!
