Carson City Symphony presents 200th concert

Celebrating its 35th season, the Carson City Symphony, directed by David Bugli, will perform its 200th concert, “Balance & Nature,” on Sunday at the Carson City Community Center’s newly refurbished Bob Boldrick Theater, 851 E. William St.

Featured guest soloist saxophonist Rhett Bender will perform the premiere of the orchestral version of Duality for alto saxophone and orchestra by Carleton Macy. The composer will attend the concert, which also includes Verdi’s Nabucco Overture, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 (Pastorale).

Tickets are $15 general admission, $12 for seniors, students and Symphony Association members and free for youth ages 18 and younger. Tickets are on sale at the Nevada Day Office, 716 N. Carson St., online at www.ccsymphony.com or at the door.

Pre-show entertainment by the Da Capa duo, Susan Cross-Stanley, flute, and Jim Stanley, clarinet, begins at 3 p.m. in the lobby. A concert preview begins at 3:15 p.m. in the Sierra Room. The preview, hosted by conductor David Bugli, will include discussions with soloist Rhett Bender and composer Carleton Macy about the concert, composers and music. A dinner reception at the Martin Hotel follows the concert. For price and reservations, call the Symphony at 775-883-4154 by Thursday.

Dr. Rhett Bender is a professor of music at Southern Oregon University Performing Arts, where he teaches saxophone, clarinet and chamber music. He performs and teaches throughout the U.S. and in Chengdu, China. In the summers, Bender is the director of the Ashland Chamber Music Workshop and the Siskiyou Saxophone Workshop. He’s a founding member and soprano saxophonist with the Mazama Quartet and Globe Saxophone Quartet and is the conductor of the Cascade Clarinet Consort and the Siskiyou Saxophone Orchestra. The Feb. 24 “Balance & Nature” concert will be Bender’s second as soloist with Carson City Symphony.

While in Carson City, Bender will work with band classes at Carson Middle School.

Carleton Macy, professor Emeritus of music at Macalester College in Minn., is a composer, performs on several instruments, and has an active interest in non-Western music. His compositions have been performed throughout the United States, and in Europe and Asia. He wrote Duality originally for saxophone and wind ensemble, and dedicated the work to Rhett Bender

The Symphony’s 2018-19 concert season is supported, in part, with public funding through the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. The concert preview is funded in part by Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For information, see www.ccsymphony.com or call 775-883-4154.