[dropcap]Oklahomans[/dropcap] attending the OK Mozart International Festival in Bartlesville this month may find a few surprises in the festival’s 32nd season. While the festival still focuses on Mozart, the theme has expanded to fit in other works as well.
“We have a broad new theme called called ‘Mozart and His Musical Heirs,’ and that’s how we’re deciding what music to play,” says OK Mozart Executive Director Randy Thompson. “We’re including Mozart on every program, but we’re also juxtaposing his music with music he has influenced.
The change has allowed the festival to expand and present a variety of different music. Pianist Anne-Marie McDermott will be performing with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra for the grand finale concert, which includes music from Europe and the Americas.
Other performers include jazz and blues vocalist Catherine Russell and Simply Three, a trio that plays everything from Puccini to Michael Jackson.
The festival is using many Oklahoma artists in the festival, including the Tulsa Symphony, the Oklahoma Philharmonic and the Signature Symphony, Tulsa Community College’s professional orchestra in residence.
“We are really becoming a festival not only for Oklahomans, but by Oklahomans,” Thompson says. “We’ve put a new level of meaning into the OK in OK Mozart.”
The festival will draw 15,000 people to Bartlesville and includes 117 separate events, including seven main concert events and 10 chamber music concerts. The rest are events in every area of humanities people can imagine, Thompson says.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit okmozart.com.
