Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra Kicks Off 2019-20 Season with the Spirit of the West

Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra is thrilled to welcome back Grammy Award-Winning cellist Zuill Bailey to Cheyenne at the CSO season opener Spirit of the West on Sat, Oct. 12th.

“Zuill is a good friend and a wonderful musician,” said Music Director and Conductor, William Intriligator. “He is really a favorite of our audiences here, and he has appeared two or three times with the orchestra already, as well as performed very memorable Hausmusik recitals.”

Zuill will be performing a beautiful new cello concerto written specifically for him, Tales of Hemingway, by Michael Daugherty. Zuill’s recording of this concerto with the Nashville Symphony won him and the piece a Grammy Award. The concerto has many different sides to it: sometimes achingly gorgeous, sometimes raucous and exciting.

Intriligator continued, “Copland’s music is very near to my heart. I hear his love of our country in each of his pieces, whether he is musically depicting the rugged landscape of the West or paying tribute to the folksongs of eastern shakers, the American spirit comes through loud and clear.” In this concert, CSO will perform his Outdoor Overture and music from the film The Red Pony.

The Orchestra will also perform the Wyoming premiere of Transcend by Zhou Tian, a work written in honor of the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad. It’s an exciting and challenging score that will be very rewarding for the audience. In the first movement, you can feel the energy of a train moving at full speed and the blasts of dynamite as tunnels are being made. In the second movement, very song-like solos with a faint Chinese quality are played by the woodwinds and French horn, commemorating the Chinese immigrants who helped build the railroad. The final movement is based on the Morse code rhythm spelling the word DONE, the first message sent over telegram when the railroad was complete.

As a tie-in to the concert, the Wyoming Humanities Council, in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Humanities Hemingway Highways grant, will celebrate Hemingway’s Wyoming connections on Fri., Oct. 11th at 5:00 PM at the Atlas Theatre. The round table discussion will include Maestro William Intriligator, cellist Zuill Bailey and UW Hemingway scholar, Charles Fournier. It is free and open to the public. Zuill Bailey will also perform a solo cello recital at the Cheyenne Depot on Sun., Oct. 13th at 2 PM.

Tickets are still available and include a reception with light appetizers, $25 for students and $45 for adults.

Enhance your experience with “Lunch and Learn” on Oct. 11th, from 12-1:30 PM at the Laramie County Library and “Classic Conversations” on Oct. 12th, at 6:30 PM at the Civic Center, prior to the concert. Maestro Intriligator and Zuill Bailey will be available for media interviews prior to the concert by calling Lindsey Reynolds at 778-8561.