The Lima Symphony Announces New Music Director and 2020-2021 Season

Lima, OH (June 11, 2020) – The Lima Symphony Orchestra has announced their pick for a new Music Director and their 2020-2021 Season, Joyful Beginnings. Maestro Andrew Crust was chosen as the orchestra’s new Music Director from among the eight finalists selected last season. The decision to engage Maestro Crust as Music Director came after an extensive search and with input from the Lima Symphony Board, musicians, audience, and community.

 

“Each of our finalists was truly extraordinary,” said Executive Director Elizabeth Brown-Ellis, “but Maestro Crust’s passion for engaging the community on and off the podium aligns perfectly with the LSO’s values. His concert was the culmination of a wonderful week together during which he rehearsed the chorus; instructed students in our schools and library; met with Board members, the Friends of the Symphony, BOOST and community leaders, and attended Healing Through Music.”

 

“We are delighted to welcome Maestro Crust at this critical time in our organization, our field, and our world,” Brown-Ellis continued. “His imaginative approach to programming, vast knowledge of repertoire and ability to think creatively, inclusively and strategically will provide the artistic leadership we need for a strong and vibrant future.”

 

Andrew Crust joins the Lima Symphony Orchestra as the 5th Music Director in the organization's history, and has developed a versatile international career as a conductor of orchestral, opera, ballet and pops programs. Crust also serves as the Associate Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony in Canada, where he conducts a large number of subscription, pops, educational and contemporary concerts each season. Previously, Crust served as Assistant Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2019 where he conducted around forty concerts each season. Crust also served as Conductor of the Memphis Youth Symphony Program. As the Assistant Conductor of the Portland Symphony Orchestra in Maine from 2016-2018, he conducted a variety of concert series, helped coordinate the orchestra’s extensive educational programs, and helped lead a program for concertgoers under 40 called “Symphony and Spirits”. Crust was the Assistant Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA (NYO-USA) in the summers of 2017 and 2018, assisting Michael Tilson Thomas on an Asian tour, as well as Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop and James Ross at Carnegie Hall and in a side-by-side performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has served a Guest Conductor for a number of orchestras both at home and abroad, including the Kansas City Symphony, San Diego Symphony and Nashville Symphony, the Boulder Philharmonic and Opera McGill. Crust is dedicated to exploring new ways of bringing the classical music experience into the 21st century through innovative programming and marketing, creating community-oriented and socially-sensitive concert experiences, and utilizing social media and unique venues. Crust is a firm believer in meaningful music education, having produced and written a number of original educational programs with orchestras, as well as innovative programs such as VSO Relaxed Concerts, designed for neurodiverse communities.

 

Maestro Crust has a thrilling schedule of performances planned for his debut season. With pillars of the canon from Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms, to lesser-known masterworks of Price, Still, and Boulanger, to popular music from film, television, and The Beatles, the music will traverse styles and eras and showcase the Lima Symphony Orchestra and Chorus as never before.

 

Season Outline:

Strength of Spirit

November 14, 2020

7:30PM

Andrew Crust, conductor

From the freshness of youth to man’s heroic triumph over fate, the Lima Symphony Orchestra comes to life in a program that spans centuries and styles but unites in strength and brilliance. Maestro Andrew Crust’s debut concert hints at the diverse and colorful programming planned for this landmark season. Lili Boulanger’s youthful exuberance belies her sophisticated style, which is on full display in “D’un matin de printemps,” a charming work full of nuance and playfulness. Poulenc’s “Concerto for 2 pianos” is the most modern work on the program, with sounds that span from Mozartian classicism to the exotic and transfixing tones of the Balinese gamelan. Finally, Beethoven’s monumental Fifth Symphony speaks to strength in the face of adversity and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit.

Lili Boulanger - D’un matin de printemps

Francis Poulenc - Concerto for Two Pianos

Piano Soloists:

Yaoyue Huang, 2018 Young Artist Competition Winner

Scott Sherman, 2019 Young Artist Competition Finalist

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 5

 

Bells, Brass and Bows - A Holiday Celebration

December 12, 2020

7:30PM

Christopher Ray, Guest Conductor

Lima Symphony Chorus

Delight in the sounds of the season with the Lima Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Featuring festive favorites and holiday singalongs, this program explores all facets of the season from the traditional “Hallelujah Chorus” to Poulenc’s brilliant and sensuous Gloria. There is fun in store for the whole family, including exhilarating and joyous works of Tchaikovsky, Bizet, and Anderson! From the introspective to the uplifting, this program is infused with the warmth and excitement of the season.

Featured Repertoire:

Leroy Anderson - Christmas Festival Overture

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Waltz of the Flowers

Richard Hayman - Carol of the Bells

John Finnegan - Christmas Singalong

Francis Poulenc - Gloria

George Frideric Handel - Hallelujah Chorus

Georges Bizet - Farandole

 

NYE POPS: Classical Mystery Tour (Beatles)

December 31, 2020

7:30PM

Andrew Crust, conductor

Take a trip down Penny Lane with all your favorite Beatles hits! Called “The world’s best Beatles’ show with symphony orchestra,” this show faithfully honors the musical legacy of The Beatles with authentic reproductions of their most famous songs as you’ve never heard them before: live with your favorite hometown symphony! From the brass bands of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to the lush string accompaniment of Yesterday, this show will have you singing all your favorite Beatles hits well into the new year!

 

Music By Candlelight

January 23 and 24, 2021

7:30PM and 4PM

Yaniv Attar, Guest Conductor

Experience the thrill of hearing music in a candlelit, sacred space that reflects the purity and vitality of music. Arvo Pärt’s “Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten” is a work meant to be heard in a church. Infused with spiritual significance and church modes, the purity of the sounds provide comfort. By contrast, J.C. Bach’s music is energetic and stormy, the embodiment of the Baroque style, while the music of Chevalier de Saint-Georges, though written only a few decades later, reflects the energetic drive of the Baroque and the clean lines of the Classical period. Finally, Schubert’s melodic and breezy Fifth Symphony ends the program with a joyfulness that can only be reflected in candlelight.

Arvo Pärt - Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten

J.C. Bach - Symphony No. 6 in g Minor

Chevalier de Saint-Georges - Symphony Op. 11, No. 2

Franz Schubert - Symphony No. 5

 

American Voices – Celebrating Black History Month

February 13, 2021

7:30PM

Andrew Crust, conductor

Katherine Jolly, Soprano

The passion and pathos of Barber’s Adagio for Strings sets the stage for an evening of contemplation and celebration of Black History Month. Renowned soprano soloist Katherine Jolly brings Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 for voice and orchestra to life and offers an idyllic and nostalgic picture of an evening in the American South through the eyes of a young child. Songs from the celebrated Florence Price, the first African American female composer to win national recognition, delight in their elegant settings of traditional American sounds. Rounding out the program is William Grant Still’s “Symphony No. 1 ‘Afro American.’” Still, the first African American composer to have a work performed by a major symphony orchestra, is celebrated and remembered for his eloquent and thoughtful incorporation of the blues idiom into the symphonic style.

Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings

Samuel Barber - Knoxville: Summer of 1915

Florence Price - Various Art Songs (arranged by Andrew Crust)

William Grant Still - Symphony No. 1 “Afro American”

 

Family Concert: Outer Space Symphony

March 14, 2021

3PM

Andrew Crust, conductor

Blast off for outer space with the Lima Symphony Orchestra. Guided by a young starship captain on the bridge of her ship, take a musical journey to the outer reaches of the solar system and back again. From asteroids to aliens, Star Trek to Star Wars, E.T. to Holst, this exciting adventure will delight the whole family!

 

Toward the Unknown Region

April 10, 2021

7:30PM

Andrew Crust, conductor

Lima Symphony Chorus

Amit Peled, cello

The voices of the Lima Symphony Chorus will uplift and inspire with some of the most reflective choral music ever written. “Even the beautiful must die” are the opening lines of Brahms’ elegy for chorus and orchestra, “Nänie.” However, as spring follows winter, renewal follows grief, and Vaughn Williams’ choral work “Toward the Unknown Region” invites a spiritual journey of a more uplifting variety, celebrating the innate goodness of human beings. Finishing out this landmark season is Dvorák’s “Concerto for Cello and Orchestra.” This work, at once expansive and fanciful, stands out among all cello concertos for its rich orchestral music, lyrical solo writing, and magnificence.

Johannes Brahms - Nänie

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Toward the Unknown Region

Antonín Dvorák - Concerto for Cello and Orchestra

 

The Lima Symphony Orchestra is dedicated to preserving musical excellence as a living part of our community. Serving communities throughout West Central Ohio, the Lima Symphony annually presents four subscription concerts, a family concert, Mozart by Candlelight concerts and an annual New Year’s Eve Pops concert.

 

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For more information about the Lima Symphony Orchestra or for tickets, please contact the Lima Symphony at 419-222-5701 or www.limasymphony.com.

 

Andrew Crust Bio:

ANDREW CRUST is the newly-appointed Music Director of the Lima Symphony, the 5th Music Director in the organization's history, and has developed a versatile international career as a conductor of orchestral, opera, ballet and pops programs.

 

Crust also serves as the Associate Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony in Canada, where he conducts a large number of subscription, pops, educational and contemporary concerts each season. 

 

In the current and upcoming seasons Crust will debut with the Vermont and Bozeman Symphonies as a Music Director finalist, and with the San Diego Symphony and Calgary Philharmonic and Arkansas Symphony as a guest conductor. Other recent engagements include performances with the Winnipeg Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Hartford Symphony, and l’Orchestre de la Francophonie in Québec.

 

Crust won a Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award in 2020, and in 2017 was awarded First Prize at the Accademia Chigiana by Daniele Gatti, receiving a scholarship and an invitation to guest conduct the Orchestra di Sanremo in Italy. He was a semi-finalist for the Nestlé/Salzburg Festival’s Young Conductors Award competition, and was selected by members of the Vienna Philharmonic as a winner of the Ansbacher Fellowship, with full access to all rehearsals and performances of the Salzburg Festival.

 

Crust is equally at ease in the pit, having conducted ballet with Ballet Memphis and the New Ballet Ensemble, and opera with Opera McGill, College Light Opera Company, Boulder Opera Company, and others. As a Pops conductor, Andrew has collaborated with such artists as Rufus Wainwright, Michael Bolton, Cirque de la Symphonie, the United States Jazz Ambassadors and many others. Andrew has also established himself as a conductor of films with orchestra.

 

Crust served as Assistant Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2019 where he conducted around forty concerts each season. He stepped in last minute for a successful subscription performance featuring Bernstein’s Serenade with violinist Charles Yang. Crust also served as Conductor of the Memphis Youth Symphony Program. As the Assistant Conductor of the Portland Symphony Orchestra in Maine from 2016-2018, he conducted a variety of concert series, helped coordinate the orchestra’s extensive educational programs, and helped lead a program for concertgoers under 40 called “Symphony and Spirits”.

 

Crust was the Assistant Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA (NYO-USA) in the summers of 2017 and 2018, assisting Michael Tilson Thomas on an Asian tour, as well as Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop and James Ross at Carnegie Hall and in a side-by-side performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also served as Cover Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony, San Diego Symphony and Nashville Symphony, Assistant/Cover Conductor of the Boulder Philharmonic and Assistant Conductor of Opera McGill.

 

Abroad, he has led concerts with the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana in Italy, Hamburger Symphoniker at the Mendelssohn Festival in Germany, the Moravian Philharmonic in the Czech Republic and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile in Santiago.

 

Crust is dedicated to exploring new ways of bringing the classical music experience into the 21st century through innovative programming and marketing, creating community-oriented and socially-sensitive concert experiences, and utilizing social media and unique venues. Crust is a firm believer in meaningful music education, having produced and written a number of original educational programs with orchestras, as well as innovative programs such as VSO Relaxed Concerts, designed for neurodiverse communities.