On Thursday, EPO Music Director Roger Kalia stood before the victory theater in downtown Evansville to unveil the new concert season. He describes it as 'eclectic,' with a variety of genres, eras and even musical ensembles and venues. Audiences will experience everything from Mozart to Metallica.
EPO Executive Director Kimberly Bredemeier shared the season's theme, which is "Inspired: Creating Beautiful Music for You."
The biggest thing about this season is that for the first time as music director, Kalia said he might actually get to experience a ‘normal’ orchestra season in Evansville.
“… what I mean by that is we will have the full orchestra back on stage and we're hopefully no longer have to social distance," he said. "So I am looking forward to being back and having a normal season per se.”
Kalia said they adapted and innovated to the restrictions of the pandemic, offering online performances and social distancing in-person performances with smaller chamber groups.
But he’s looking forward to being able to utilize the whole orchestra and mingle with musicians and patrons after performances. Kalia said the biggest change this year is the amount of community engagement EPO will be doing.
“I also feel like what was missing was connecting with different age groups, different backgrounds of different people, and we're doing much more of that now," he said. "With the diversity series for instance, we're performing not only at museums and different places in the community, we're also performing in temples."
These include Jewish and Hindu temples. They’re also adding food and drink to series such as the ‘Uncorked’ concerts and symphony happy hour.
Mostly, Kalia said he’s just happy to finally be able to engage with musicians and audiences directly.
For the rundown of the season, go to https://evansvillephilharmonic.org/
To listen to the longer two-way interview with Kalia, click below.