Dr. David Bowden has directed the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra since 1997 and will be retiring at the end of the 2024-25 season after completing 28 years at the helm of the orchestra. In this special presentation for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Indiana State University, Maestro Bowden will debrief the THSO’s November 2 concert, Heroism & Hope, as he provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at what it is like to be the Artistic Director and Conductor of a professional orchestra. While conducting the orchestra is the most notable part of the duties of the conductor, music-lovers are often shocked to learn that 95% of a conductor’s time is spent on non-musical, administrative activities. For fans of the orchestra, this is a must-attend Wednesday Presentation as Maestro Bowden pulls back the curtain on the life of a symphony conductor.

This presentation is open to the public!

Join Layne Anspach, Fourth Horn with the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, as he previews the THSO’s November 2nd concert and provides insight into the music. The theme of the concert is “Heroism & Hope” and will feature some of the orchestral repertoire’s most powerful music such as the Shostakovich Festive Overture, Brahms’ glorious Symphony No. 3, and the thrilling Shostakovich Symphony No. 5. This session promises to be interesting to all music lovers, but it is a “must-attend” class for those who will attend the concert.

FREE and open to the public!

Join Dr. Samantha Johnson-Helms, Executive Director of the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, as she previews the THSO’s September 21st concert and provides insight into the music. The theme of the concert is “Playing Favorites,” and features fan favorites from the orchestral repertoire including Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet, Verdi’s Overture to La Forza del Destino, Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and Rimsky Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol. This session will interest all music lovers, but it is a “must-attend” class for those planning to attend the concert.

FREE and open to the public!

The Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to present a preview of our 2024-2025 season with members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI)! As the THSO approaches their 100th season, the Symphony will also share exciting updates about their plans to kick off the next century of music making. Join Executive Director and Principal Clarinet, Dr. Samantha Johnson-Helms, for an afternoon of the repertoire, guest artists, and exciting new programming for the THSO’s 99th season as the oldest professional symphony in the state of Indiana.

This presentation is open to the public!

Join Principal Percussion, Keegen Sheehy, of the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra as he discusses and demonstrates multiple instruments from the percussion section of the symphony for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Keegan will share a brief history of several common percussion instruments in the orchestra and present a demonstration of the instruments’ mechanics and performance. The presentation will conclude with a short solo performance and Q&A with the audience.  

In preparation for the THSO’s 1812 Overture LIVE! event on November 4th, join THSO Fourth Horn, Layne Anspach, for a presentation with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) featuring an overview of historical and contextual information about concert repertoire. Concert repertoire includes Richard Strauss’ Don Juan and Death & Transfiguration, Eric Ewazen’s Down a River of Time for oboe and orchestra, and Tchaikovsky’s famous 1812 Overture in its entirety.

In preparation for the THSO’s Brahms & Tchaikovsky event on April 29, join THSO Board Member and Rose-Hulman Faculty, Dr. David Chapman, for a presentation with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) featuring an overview of historical and contextual information about concert repertoire. Concert repertoire includes Coleridge-Taylor’s Danse Nègre, Brahms’ Violin Concerto performed by THSO Concertmaster Elina Rubio, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.

Join the musicians of the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra as they discuss the instruments of the orchestra. Each presentation will feature a professional musician from the symphony who will provide a brief history of his or her instrument, present a demonstration of the instrument’s mechanics and popular orchestra excerpts, and give a performance of a short solo piece! 

In preparation for the THSO’s Musical Treasures event on April 1, members of the THSO will share a Tour of the Orchestra presentation with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) featuring an overview of historical and contextual information about concert repertoire. Concert repertoire includes Sadler’s Journey for Tuba and Orchestra, Fauré’s Sicilienne, Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, and more!

In preparation for the THSO’s Moonlight Serenades event on March 18, Artistic Director and Conductor Dr. David Bowden will share a Tour of the Orchestra presentation with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) featuring an overview of historical and contextual information about concert repertoire. Concert repertoire includes Serenade for Winds, Op. 44 by Anton Dvorak and Serenade No. 2 in A Major, Op. 16 by Johannes Brahms.

In preparation for the THSO’s Hops & Haydn event on February 18, THSO Second Horn Sharon Weyser will share a Tour of the Orchestra presentation with members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) featuring an overview of historical and contextual information about concert repertoire. The concert will include works by composers such as Mozart, Haydn, Bach, Handel, and more!

In preparation for the THSO’s concert Brahms & Rachmaninoff featuring Drew Petersen on April 30, 2022, members of the THSO will present an overview of historical and contextual information about concert repertoire.

Join Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra Principal Harp, Harriet Moore, as she discusses the Harp and its role in the symphony orchestra. Learn about the instrument’s acoustics, origin, and history, as well as hear famous orchestral excerpts for the Harp. The presentation will close with a short solo performance and a question-and-answer session.

Over the past 3 years, Layne Anspach has had the pleasure of working with a mostly undiscovered Franz Strauss horn concerto manuscript and has worked tirelessly to produce a new published score in coordination with the Strauss Estate. Join us as Layne walks us through the process of taking a manuscript to a fully published piece purchased by conductors and musicians. Reading a manuscript and interpreting what the composer originally wrote in their own handwriting is not always easy! Learn about how many lingering artistic decisions are made during score creation, particularly when the composer is not around to ask clarifying questions.

In 1936, Sergei Prokofiev wrote a magical symphonic fairy tale for children complete with a narrator and a colorful orchestra to illustrate the characters throughout the story. Join Dr. Jennifer Kirby as she walks the audience through the tale of Peter and the Wolf and introduces the instrumental themes that demonstrate each character including Peter, the Wolf, a spritely bird, a mischievous cat, a friendly duck, Peter’s stern grandfather, and the hunters that save them all.

Resident music theory PhD candidate and THSO violinist, Christa Cole, jointly presents with Indiana University colleague and fellow music theory scholar, Miguel Arango Calle, an introduction to musical forms. Understanding how a piece of music is constructed can add a vivid picture of the composer’s musical design and aesthetic meaning. Learn about two basic small musical forms (sentence, period) and three standard large forms (sonata, theme and variations, concerto) of the common practice era. The presentation will include a variety of musical examples spanning the 18th to 20th centuries, interweaving examples by well-known composers such as Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven with those of lesser-performed composers such as Florence Price, the Chevalier du Saint-Georges, and Amy Beach. No music theory experience needed!

Join Associate Principal Cello, Philip Kettler, as he introduces the origin of string instruments by demonstrating and performing on the baroque cello and viola da gamba, predecessors to today’s modern string instruments. The presentation will include a brief overview of historical performance practices 200 years ago which will be demonstrated in repertoire, treatises, iconography, and historical trends. Also learn about early music notation (ligatures, mensuration, solmization) and understand how it has developed into its modern form.

In preparation for Brahms & Beach on November 6, members of the THSO will present an overview of historical and contextual information about concert repertoire. Amy Beach was an extraordinary woman. In a time when women rarely considered a music career, Amy was one of the greatest composers in our country. Her “Gaelic” Symphony is filled to the brim with passion, power, beauty and lyrical melodies. The THSO also welcomes cellist Natania Hoffman and violinist Benjamin Hoffman to play Brahms’ gorgeous Double Concerto, written to repair a strained friendship. It succeeded! Come hear why.

The Reed Trio has become a prominent chamber ensemble in the past several decades, consisting of oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. Join members of the THSO for a discussion of wind chamber music with a focused discussion on the trio d'anches (reed trio) with performances from select reed trios. Specific topics to be explored include and introduction of wind chamber music history, the beginnings of the reed trio ensemble, and important repertoire for the reed trio complete with performance of excerpts.

THSO Artistic Director & Conductor, David Bowden, presents From the Podium, a look at the role of the conductor in leading the orchestra. We will discuss what goes into preparation for a performance – programming the concert, preparing the music, determining the number of rehearsals, auditioning the musicians, organizing the rehearsals and concert, and what the conductor is actually doing during a performance.

The 2021-2022 Season is set to the THSO’s biggest yet! Join Samantha Johnson-Helms, Executive Director & Principal Clarinet, for an exciting overview of the THSO’s 96th season, Sights, Sounds & Stories complete with audio clips of great music, historical context of pieces to be performed, and a sneak peak at the THSO’s relaunch of their THSO Presents! series featuring chamber music performed by members of the THSO in an intimate setting.

Viola players have the fortune to perform on an underrepresented instrument in the symphony orchestra. The flashy popularity of the violin and the lush tone of the cello frequently overpower the gentle (yet temperamental) viola sound. This presentation will aim to guide us through the different viola repertoire, following a thread of inclusion and diversity of composers, performers, improvisers, pedagogues, and activists.

Join us as with a lecture from THSO English Horn, Dr. Jennifer Kirby, on a journey back in time as she explores how we have reconstructed Ancient Western Music through different forms of art. Learn about music from Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, Greece, and Rome and how it evolved into the music we have today. We will study artwork housed in museums across the world as we piece together what musical instruments were used and their functions in society. Pairing iconography with written works such as those of Homer and Plato, we can paint a vivid picture of what music was like in European Antiquity. We will also look at the oldest written musical examples, see the few rare surviving instruments, and hear reconstructions on modern copies and voice.

Join THSO Principal Trumpet, Jay Ellsmore, for an intriguing discussion about the trumpet concerto genre.

Beyond Haydn and Hummel: Concertos for the Trumpet

When one thinks of a trumpet concerto, often only two pieces come to mind. There are, however, other great works out there for trumpet and orchestra. One piece in particular is the Concerto for Piano, Trumpet, and Strings by Shostakovich. This work is a great place start, for it is a very approachable and fun piece, and it shares the stage with a more familiar solo instrument, the piano. Other solo trumpet works include 20th and 21st century compositions by Arutunian, Plog, John Williams, and Tomasi, as well many baroque era works by composers such as Telemann and J.S. Bach.

Join Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra Executive Director, Samantha Johnson-Helms, as she discusses the THSO's upcoming 2021-2022 season, "Sights, Sounds & Stories"! Hear excerpts from repertoire to be performed, interesting historical information, and learn about the guest artists who will be featured during the season. Presentation will be available in person and on Zoom.

Join Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra Principal Keyboard, Tim Stephenson, as he discusses the piano and other keyboard instruments in the symphony orchestra.

Join Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra Principal Flute, Dr. Joyce Wilson, as she discusses the Flute and its role in the symphony orchestra.

Join Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra Bassoonist, Sara Fruehe, as she discusses the Bassoon and its role in the symphony orchestra.

Join Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra English Horn player, Dr. Jennifer Kirby, as she discusses the English Horn and its role in the symphony orchestra. Dr. Kirby will also share several other members of the oboe family including the Baroque Oboe and Baroque Oboe d’amore.

Join Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra bass clarinetist and auxiliary clarinet extraordinaire, Dr. Keith Northover, as he discusses the bass clarinet and its role in the symphony orchestra. Dr. Northover will also share other members of the clarinet family including the Alto Clarinet, Bassett Horn, and more.