Bend Don't Break: Dr Travis Allen, Executive Director of the Central Oregon Symphony Association

In this episode host Aaron Switzer sits down with Dr Travis Allen, Executive Director of the Central Oregon Symphony Association. A Bend native, cellist, educator, and arts leader, Dr Allen shares his journey from studying cello performance and musicology to returning home to build a career in Central Oregon’s classical music community. He discusses his work as a performer, teacher at Central Oregon Community College, and his leadership role guiding the symphony after years of involvement in local music education and performance.

The conversation explores the role of a community orchestra, the challenges and opportunities of growing a classical music audience in Bend, and the importance of accessibility in the arts. Dr Allen highlights outreach efforts like Music in Public Places, youth engagement programs, and the symphony’s pay what you can model, all of which aim to make classical music more inclusive and relevant to Central Oregon’s evolving community.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Ben Don't Break Podcast. We are powered by the Storce, Ben's locally owned media company and weekly newspaper. This podcast is our eddy in the rushing waters of local journalism. We are glad that you're taking some of your time to listen to us and chat with the people who shape our local community. Support us through our member program at Benstorts.com.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

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SPEAKER_01 0:44

I'm Aaron Sweitzer, producer of this podcast with my co-producer Megan Burton off-screen and uh publisher of the stores. Thank you for being with us today. Our guest is Dr. Travis Allen. He is honored to be the executive director of the Centaurian Symphony Association, a versatile cellist, educator, and arts leader. Dr. Allen has been a part of the classical music scene in Centurion since 2008, known for his dedication to performance, chamber music, and music education. He currently serves as principal cellist of the Centurion Symphony and is the cellist of the Dove String Quartet. He for the past five years, Dr. Allen has served as the executive director of the Central Oregon Youth Orchestra. In addition to his performance and leadership roles, he is also on the faculty of Central Oregon Community College, where he teaches music history as well as second-year music theory and musicianship. Continues to perform regularly, including with the Sun River Music Festival, and will continue to perform as principal cellist with the Central Oregon Symphony. If he is not doing something musical, he's likely in the outdoor with his wife and daughter. I hope we got all that correct.

SPEAKER_02 1:56

That sounds good. That's very thorough.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Travis, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. So you're new to the executive director position.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Yeah, it's been a little over a year at this point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

What made you decide to take on the insanity of being the executive director for the symphony?

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Um, that's a great question. I was thinking about that today. I think in some ways, uh I sort of have fallen into these positions. Yeah. The youth orchestra I started um back in just before actually COVID hit. Okay. And um just wanted a little more uh yeah, just a little more to do and wanted to be involved sort of in a more leadership role in the music community, especially with youth back then.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

What year was that started? What year did you?

SPEAKER_02 2:41

I started in the beginning of 2020. So like February of 2020.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Yeah. So you've been in the community for a while, if it had been eight to twenty.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Yeah, yeah. And so I was doing that until roughly about last, just a little over a year ago when I when I assumed this role.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Where did you um where did you get your music education? Yeah. Your education. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:05

So um, I guess a little back a little background about me that some people might know already, but I actually grew up in Bend.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

So um went to Bend senior high and graduated in 1997 and then um went away to Portland State, eventually got my master's there in cello performance. Okay. And wanted to explore other aspects of music as well, a little bit more theory and history. And so I went to UC Santa Barbara and got my doctorate in musicology, which is sort of like theory history based. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

I've seen the you uh the University of Santa Barbara campus. Is it as incredible as it seems to go to school there?

SPEAKER_02 3:44

It is pretty nice. Um I don't it's uh I don't know if there is a campus that is as on the beach as C Santa Barbara is. It's gorgeous. Yeah, it's a pretty nice place to be.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yeah, I mean, I we were visiting and I thought, man, if I could have, I never would have left. I might not have graduated. Yeah, yeah. It's a great town. Yes. And what did you study when you were there?

SPEAKER_02 4:09

So that was musicology.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

Um, which is sort of it's a sort of an encompassing degree of music um academics. So uh we have history and theory and culture and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

And consider me ignorant, but uh there's playing the cello, and then there is taking courses about playing the cello.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Um, sort of.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Musicology. Why would you go into musicology? Why go into things like music theory?

SPEAKER_02 4:41

So that's yeah, that's more just discussing like the history of music, so where music has come from, if if we're talking about musicology, sort of their central its central role. Right. Um, and you know, who these composers were and what they were writing and why they were writing it the way they were. Um, and then the theory is talking about like the music itself and why it was composed in a specific way or how it was composed in a specific way at a specific time.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Does it make you a better performer?

SPEAKER_02 5:08

It can, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Or is there you are you born with it? Like writing. We often say like create, I was a creative writing major, and I was like, you're either a creative writer or you're not a creative writer. We can sand the edges, but you know, it still might be a block of wood.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Yeah, I think there's uh there's probably a spectrum. I've I feel like some people I've I've taught on the cello grasp it really quickly, and others it's a little more of a challenge, but there's plenty of people in between where, you know, just more dedication and time, they they do really well as well. Um, but yeah, knowing more about the music itself can actually uh inform your performance. They might bring something out that you might not before, or um at the very least, it helps you understand why something is made a certain way.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

Do you um how did you end up actually uprooting yourself from Santa Barbara and migrating back to back to lava bear country?

SPEAKER_02 6:07

So your your statement about staying um rings true for me a little bit. I wasn't planning on coming back to Bend. Um and uh I wasn't sure necessarily where I would end up, but I also wasn't planning on leaving Santa Barbara at the time I did. Um but I remet someone that I had known uh growing up here. We hit it off and I came up to live here and finish my work, my graduate work down in Santa Barbara.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

While you were living here?

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:39

And then yeah, we just stuck around.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

So was this high school sweetheart?

SPEAKER_02 6:43

Um it was someone I uh wanted to be a high school sweetheart. Yes, there was someone I I uh admired and and um yeah, so how did you reconnect? Um through just a mutual friend. Okay. Another friend of mine who had moved back, um, had gotten her, you know, ran into her and gotten her number. And so I sort of ran into her and some other folks, and yeah, we just sort of reconnected over time. I'd come up and visit um my family and try to, you know, see see her as well.

SPEAKER_01 7:16

And there's a little movie there with cello in the background, I think.

SPEAKER_02 7:21

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

So then um, was it did you move here before the position opened up at COCC? Were you here when the position opened? Oh, that's fortunate.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

Yeah, so I was here and then um yeah, and then yeah, there was a a small position that opened up to teach like one class. And okay. So I I did that and just gradually added some more classes as I stuck around.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

And then um, and so what was the first so when when did you begin teaching up at COCC? I think it was 2009. Okay, yeah, eight or nine. Yeah. And then um, so from there you was it the youth was the first thing that beyond your beginning the college teaching, was it the youth choir that you got uh or youth orchestra that you got involved with?

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Sort of, yeah. So I was teaching at the college and playing cello around town, um, and just doing as much as I could.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

There was also an That's not a very big gig playing cello around the Central community in 2009, I think.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Uh there there's quite a few opportunities, but yeah, it's it's um yeah, it's not I wouldn't say it's like uh you don't have a gig every weekend. We'll say that. Right. Um, but yeah, there was also it's still actually in existence. There's this um after school orchestra that's now run by the Cascade School of Music. Oh. And I taught that for a while as well. And then um, and then yeah, just kept sort of building that in my private cello studio and yeah. Yeah, until until the youth orchestra gig.

unknown 8:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Do you do you work with the Cascade School of Music quite a bit? I mean, the youth orchestra I think would feed uh collaboratively with those guys.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Um we did collaborate with them when I worked with them uh sorry, when I worked with the youth orchestra, but um mostly it did it just sort of depends, but they're there are a lot of individual instruction, not all all of it, but a lot of it. And so it just sort of depended on um how we could collaborate. And in in in that time frame too, we had that the COVID situation. So at least our youth orchestra was shut down for a few years.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Yeah, were you able to perform I mean, you're you're pretty much in a group when you're performing. Were you able to do much during the pandemic? Not really at all. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Yeah. Yeah. I I don't know if everybody felt this way, but there was definitely the like, is are we ever gonna go play again? I don't think we're gonna be in public on it.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Right, right. Yeah, we uh it's a theme here on our podcast. Like what what were you doing during the podcast? We should just make it, we should just make that a standing question because it's just it's just it's become yeah, it's become a question anyways, since it's still so relevant. But um, yeah, everything was that's when we started doing the podcast during the pandemic because we couldn't get out and see anybody, so we started zooming all these things. But um I distinctly remember like, are we ever gonna do any of this stuff again? Feeling, yeah, you know, and um but when it was coming to things like groups and stuff, some were getting together. I never knew, like I'd I'd you see you you you'd it was random, right? You'd see some sports groups playing, but some sports groups not, and some so you you didn't know how people were navigating it. Yeah, definitely for sure. Yeah, um, so when the pandemic restrictions lim lifted, I gotta believe there was a flood of people looking to get their skills back up from definitely.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

And also it was um, but it was very, I don't know if you remember this, but it was very, especially with the students and kids going back to school, still very um piecemeal. Yeah. So some schools, like um, some private schools were able to open, some um public schools weren't. Um, some people were really still very cautious. So um when we first started back with the youth orchestra, yeah, we were um trit at Trinity actually, because they they could provide a space for us and we're open. And um our group was relatively small. Yeah. And then we grew from there.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

I gotta think it was basically family by family at that point, and it had become pretty in individual. Yeah. Like how you felt about what your by the end it was what's your comfort level, you know, where where are you at on the spectrum? And um definitely. And so I imagine some kids for sure would have been out to you earlier than others.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Yeah. And then when it came to the symphony, which I was playing in, we did um we were rehearsing a lot with masks and um eventually we're able to do some performances, but initially it was just sort of getting together and playing um with some distance so that we could at least at least still get together and yeah and work on music. That's awesome and play together.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Yeah, yeah. I'm sure there were tears, people crying as they picked their instruments back up at the first time. Yeah, definitely. Well, for people who don't know, maybe tell us a little bit about the Centaurion Symphony. What do people need to know? Um that's a how large are you?

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Yeah, it's a great question. We have uh anywhere from 70 to 90 members, depending on what the music is required. And it is um a community orchestra. Yeah. So it also is really dependent on people's schedules. So sometimes, you know, we'll have uh I played the cello, so sometimes we'll have like 13 cellos in the section, and sometimes we'll have six. It just depends who's available for that time frame. But it's been around, um actually I don't remember its actual founding year now that I think about it, but it's it's around 60 years old. Yeah. So it's been around for a long time and gone through a lot of a lot of conductors. Our last last conductor, of course, was been was here for um the longest stint has been sort of like the star work of our symphony. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

And have you guys found a new um conductor yet?

SPEAKER_02 13:05

Yes, we have. So the his name is Jonathan Moore.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

And he has uh great conducting background and actually is from this community, which is pretty rare too. So that's really cool. Yeah. Um, he was conducting with the youth orchestra as well as some other places in town. And um, yeah, he's a fantastic guy.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

So how many performances do you guys do in a year? So or what does your season look like?

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Yeah, uh, we generally start most orchestra seasons do this where we where the um community orchestra or otherwise, we start roughly it's almost falls like as an academic year. So we start in September-ish and then finish in the spring, June, May, and June.

SPEAKER_03 13:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Yeah. And we'll do um because it's a community orchestra, I'm not sure everybody does know this, but what it is associated with Central Legend Community College. It's actually a class. Oh. So um it actually follows like the main concerts follow that academic calendar. So we have a fall concert, a winter concert series. Each of those has three shows.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

But people don't need to be enrolled in in order to perform, do they? In the actually, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

They do.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Everybody every single person in the symphony is enrolled at COCC for a class. That is crazy. Yeah. So and and then there, but you're but the class is practice, or are you actually like do you teach stuff in there?

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Yeah, so it's similar in um, like if you were at a, you know, like I went to Portland State and you went to Portland State, part of your curriculum is being an orchestra. Right. And so it's sort of that kind of concept, except this is really common in communities like Ben, or when Ben was smaller, yeah, where the community, where the community college or whatever the institution is, has uh an orchestra associated with it that generally has the wider um community in it too.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Okay. So if I'm a if I've been playing the flute for 50 years and I want to be, I want to perform for the Centurion Symphony, I sign up for the class.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Sort of. So um it's still it's it's sort of uh interesting hodgepodge.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

So it's sort of you give hall passes to famous local folk. Like we need we need Bob's flute.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

Well, maybe. So it depends it depends on um where where our needs are in the orchestra, but it is all also sort of run like a professional orchestra. So even though um it is a class, like all of our members audition to come in. Okay. Um, if you do want to play flute in our orchestra, for example, there uh symphonies have a limited amount of flutes, right? On like a band or something like that. So um yeah, it would depend on what our needs are and if there are openings and if you audition and win the audition and that kind of thing. So even when I joined and became the principal, there was like a uh principal audition, and so I'd uh audition and um and sort of earn that seat.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

They're scared of you now. They can't cut the executive director. Right. Or the instructor. Uh I so I'm still trying to get my head around it. So do you try out before the class?

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Okay, and then if you make the cut, then you'll you enroll. Yeah. And then during those classes, you're pretty much learning the pieces that you're gonna be performing. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Okay. So um, yeah, in general, that's how it works. So yeah, everybody shows up to the first rehearsal after they've, you know, if, you know, and obviously if you've been a member, you're you're in the orchestra already. Right. But um, yeah, and then whoever, you know, is is playing in that term gets gets enrolled to that class.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

And how do you how do you choose the pieces?

SPEAKER_02 16:50

So that is up to the conductor who's also our sort of artistic director as well. So in the past, you know, the past 30 years has been Michael Gesmi doing um the yeah, figuring out this the schedule and this the plan for the year and all that good stuff. Um, and then now it'll be Jonathan.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Yeah. As the executive director, what are new executive director, what are your hopes and aspirations now moving forward for the symphony?

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Um that's a really good question. I don't I I think um what we're trying to do is just continue to sustain uh our community engagement. So what we're really focused on, besides the the symphony concerts that we do, um we also have a lot of outreach that we we perform within the community. Um so we have one of our main signature events or or um performances that we do throughout the year. It's called Music and Public Places. So we send out uh chamber music groups of members from our symphony and they go play in libraries and other public places that um are free to the public and people, anybody can come and usually are super well attended. We do quite a few of those throughout the year. Um we have a big children's concert that we generally do in January, and uh we got over a thousand kids showing up last time um in 2026. We did it in uh we collaborated with a lot of different organizations, including the youth orchestra and the Cascade Community School, and had a lot of uh really uh and uh just Joe's music and all these other organizations to have um booths and present and help guide our our kids through this instrument petting zoo where we had instruments everywhere and they got to try them out and then we did a little performance so they could hear what the orchestra's like. Um we do an outreach program called Symphony Stars where we take people from our orchestra and put them into different schools and have them discuss their instrument and play and get kids exposed to this type of type of music.

SPEAKER_01 19:01

And do you fundraise for all of those things specifically, or some of those covered by the college, or how does oversight work for that? Because that's a robust program.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

Yeah. So we do um fundraise for all of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

Yes. So some of it depends on how people contribute. You can contribute to like a specific um thing if you're really interested in supporting, you know, music in public places or or um Symphony Starts, which is when when we send kids out to or people out to to the schools. Yeah. Um, but then we also yeah, mostly solicit um general donations and all of our um uh we don't pay, we don't charge for tickets. So our our main goal is to make the symphony accessible to everybody.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Wow, yeah. So you pay as you go or pay what you can when you when you get to the exact when you get to the event. That's incredible. Yeah. Because that's a lot of shows.

SPEAKER_02 19:59

It is a lot. So we have each and for each series when we do the symphony, each series has three concerts in that weekend. So um, just with the main series, we have six, and then um, yeah, and then we have a chamber concert in April usually.

SPEAKER_01 20:14

And do you find that there's um, I mean, Central Oregon is growing. Is do you find there's more demand or what's your vibe as Ben is growing? Is is symphonic music or a desire for more some more music like this growing? Yeah. Or is Ben as people move in becoming less cultured and dumber? That's really what I'm kind of driving.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

Um, that's a really interesting question, especially I think because Ben is so outdoor-centric. Yeah. Um, you know, and and but we're all still this size is relatively new, right? So I think there's a lot of uh opportunity for expansion in a variety of ways.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

But we're still sort of small in some other ways, if that makes sense. It does for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

So like I mean, we're awkward. We're not like an awkward size. Yeah. Nothing fits off the rack.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

So, you know, we have, you know, if if we'd been if we were from Portland, for example, you know, the youth orchestra's been there for a hundred years, but um uh I think it what's one of the oldest youth orchestras in the nation. And then we come here and it started in 2014. So, you know, things are as we expand, we're adding things, but it it's it's hard to it hasn't been established as long. So yeah, it's very interesting. But I I definitely think there's room for expansion. There's um the High Desert Chamber Music um group uh or organization that started not too long ago, and they've had great success in bringing um musicians from outside our community to to play, and I think yeah, there's plenty of room for growth.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Yeah, I I I always find the bend um it's always aspiring to be a big I I mean, even though we can have all the political discussions about growth, and um still if you talk to people who moved here, they're you know high on their list, our performing arts center always comes up. And and then what are you gonna fill the performing arts center? We just you know, we did a podcast with the new Ben Ballet that's coming, and you you can see all this aspirational um desire to be more cultured, yeah, and uh uh to kind of offset, hopefully to offset all of our mountain biking or mountain biking trips, and then in the evening we can go listening to some symphony.

SPEAKER_03 22:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Uh but do you think, well, let's just ask, I I'm just curious about this in general. If if you from your perspective, do you think that that um symphonic music, classical music, is it having a resurgence? Do you feel like there are um do you feel younger people are listening to it? Do you feel like it's permeating culture more than it used to? Or more than it has in the recent past?

SPEAKER_02 23:03

I think so. Yeah. I feel like there's a lot more younger audiences, audience members coming to our tour concerts. I mean, but you know, traditionally it's been gray hairs.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Yeah. We can say we can say it.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

A relatively older audience for sure. Um and it really just depends on sort of where people are in their life, too. Um, there's been studies done for symphonic music about you know, one of the reasons that um maybe older generations are listening to it is because they have more free time and they're just uh it's something that really appeals to them. And that actually just sort of continues generation after generation, even if it's um an older demographic. So but yeah, that's and that's one of the things that we're really hoping to continue to pursue is find venues, one sort of like our music in public places, venues where we can engage a younger audience, uh, engage them in new ways, um with you know different types of venues and different types of um offerings that might be helpful for you know families and that kind of thing. Yeah. And then also bringing in more contemporary or American music as well to sort of uh you sort of um add to sort of our our stalwarts like Beethoven and Mozart, but also bring some new new life and blood and interest into the into the performances.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

I had this conversation a little bit when we had the director of the Sun River Music Festival and on that podcast. And you know, I mean, younger people are being exposed to classical music through video games, you know, so much more. And you know, we had occasion when we were in Portland to take my son to the performance of all the Zelda pieces, you know, and it was amazing because they had the screen and they were showing parts of the game where which I know knew nothing about, but um, but the music was incredible, and um, you know, and I've also seen other uh other video games and seen their music going on tour over in Europe, and um, and that just seems like such a way that um it it is it must be getting to younger audiences, yeah, through that.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Yeah, definitely. And I, you know, uh both through film and through games, um, this style of music is still super popular, and also, you know, really connecting with with those with that different demographic and with those views, yeah, for sure. And um, were you up in Portland when you saw that? Was it it?

SPEAKER_01 25:34

We actually were went up there. I mean, it was a great duo. I saw the Blazers and then I saw Zelda. Uh-huh. You know, so it was the one-two punch. Um, but yeah, no, we went up there for it. Yeah, we traveled for it for sure.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

Yeah. So I think um the Oregon Symphony is has been really sort of leaning into that a lot, like bringing in different types of artists and different types of music, and then yeah, doing film um and showing videos with it. So it's definitely something worth pursuing.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Doing I I'm I'm saying this so that I don't have to go to Portland again because the Blazers aren't any good now, and well, they're better than they were, but uh yeah, but seeing something like that here would be incredible. Yeah, you know, and and it just it's it's caught fire. Um so what do you um in terms of classical music, what is it that you like to listen to? What's your I I know that you probably listen to it all, but specifically, is there any period that you like more than another? And if so, why?

SPEAKER_02 26:36

Yeah, it's a it's a it's a tough question to answer.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

The um Well, you're a cellist, so you gotta have lean lean towards somebody who is good at that particular instrument.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

Um what first comes to my mind is like when I do teach history or music theory about um all these different eras and different composers, I really try to bring out what there is of interest and how to sort of enjoy like at least understand, like enjoy I don't want to make you like it, for example. Um, but I you know it that has opened my mind as well. So I feel like as I've grown in different periods of my life, I've started to enjoy and actually appreciate other types of classical music that I hadn't before. Um but if you do but yeah, if if we do think about um the cello, uh the most I guess standard piece. Um and you've probably heard of these, but there's this set of six suites written by Buck, and those are probably the like the cornerstone of all of all cello literature. Yeah. Um that everybody has to learn, and we don't necessarily learn all of them, but we have to learn a certain amount, and it's um and you you really come to love his compositional style and his pieces. Yeah. Um, but even beyond that, I you know, he wrote this piece called the Goldberg Variations that I absolutely adore. Um so if I had to choose one thing, it'd probably be him.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Yeah, when you're going into the the bunker, you'll grab the Goldberg variations.

SPEAKER_02 28:16

Exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

And and why the Goldberg variations? I mean, what is it about them?

SPEAKER_02 28:20

I don't know. They just are so compelling. Um there's they're relatively short each variation, but there's they're they're just so wonderfully done. There's um whimsy and there's like heartache and um yeah, it just I don't know, it just really touches the soul.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Are there any other any other any other composers of note for you? It doesn't necessarily be a cellist, but what would you recommend for listeners if they had to go out and like they had to, they were forced to listen to classical.

SPEAKER_02 28:57

Uh I don't I don't know, that'd be really hard to say. Yeah. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

I mean, I always point people to Mozart. I mean, that's just it's too, it's too poppy and easy to access.

SPEAKER_02 29:09

You know, yeah, Mozart's really easy to access for sure. Um I yeah, I mean, people love Beethoven. Yeah, his piano sonatas are fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

I think that people like Beethoven tend to like Beethoven because they like music scores. Like you know, I I also think that's a really easy entry point because you're kind of listening to and you're like, oh yeah, this sounds like Star Wars a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Yeah, right. There is some some theatricality for it.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

There's theatricality, that's a better, more refined way to put it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:38

So yeah, there's a lot of drama in his music for sure.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Yeah, so that's a good one. Well, we're at the uh close of our uh time here on the podcast. Is there anything that listeners, readers, watchers should know about the symphony? Anything coming up where they can what's the first point of access for them?

SPEAKER_02 29:57

Yeah, so the first point of access would just be our website, which is co symphony.com. Um, and we're within days of announcing at least the dates for next season. Oh, great.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

So um look to Well, by the time this comes out, it'll probably be right on the it might be right on it.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

Right. Yeah. So um we'll be sending out flyers to our past members and uh email blast and stuff on our website. So look to that for sort of our our season schedule for this coming year.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

It's fair to say with um new executive director, new uh conductor, that people who've been coming to the symphony, they're probably gonna see some change.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

There'll be a little change, I think. Yeah, but I also think you know the the things that you loved about the symphony before will be there too. Great. We're all still there.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

So yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks for joining us. Yeah, thanks for having me. This has been the Ben Don't Break Podcast. If you like what you heard, go to Bendsource.com, become a member, sign up, get our newsletters. We work really hard on those. You'd be surprised. Uh, and help us keep doing things like this. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

Yeah, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

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