Symphony finished conductor search

The Symphony of Southeast Texas finishes its music director search at 7:30 p.m. April 12 at the Julie Rogers Theater with final candidate Wes Kenney. The program opens with Leonard Bernstein's "Three Dances" from "Fancy Free." Written in 1944, it was later used as part of the hit movie "On the Town."

The evening also features internationally-acclaimed pianist Orli Shaham joining the orchestra for Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," famously used in numerous films and often as a wedding processional.

After intermission, Kenney leads the orchestra through Dvorak's Sixth Symphony. Kenney, now in his fifth season as music director of the Fort Collins (Colo.) Symphony, he also works with Opera Fort Collins and has appeared with Denver's Continental Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and San Francisco State.

Shaham has established an impressive reputation as one of today's most gifted pianists, and has performed numerous times with the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras and at Carnegie Hall.

Tickets for the concert, sponsored by longtime symphony supporter Rosine McFaddin Wilson, are $13 to $33 with discounts for students / senior citizens. Student tickets are $5 at the door. For information, call the symphony office at 892-2257.

On the Net

Symphony of Southeast Texas: www.sost.org