Four concerts will all be at the MHS Performing Arts Center

By Murray Bishoff Special to Monett Monthly

The Ozark Festival Orchestra will open its 46th season of concerts in Monett at 3 p.m. on Oct. 12, at the Monett High School Performing Arts Center. 

Under the baton of music director Carla Wootton, the OFO will play concert favorites and showcase players on orchestral showpieces.

The concert will feature the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, perhaps the best-known introduction in all symphonic literature, its four-note opening described as “Fate knocking at the door.” The concert continues with a Concertino for Trombone and Orchestra, an instrument rarely heard as a featured solo, by German composer Ferdinand David, who began his career in the last decade of Beethoven’s life. 

Saint-Saens’ “Dance Macabre,” one of the best-known “spooky” pieces frequently played during the Halloween season, will follow with a fire-powered solo part played by our concertmaster, Elizabeth Suh. The OFO will also perform two American pieces evoking rural country life: “Old American Country Set” by Henry Cowell and “Folk Tune and Fiddle Dances” by Percy Fletcher for strings. A slide show of Monett scenes will accompany the music. 

Admission to the concert will be $10 for adults, free to children high school age and younger.  Monett High School, 1 David Sippy Drive, is located off East Cleveland Avenue (Business Hwy. 60) at the east end of the city, next to Price Cutter Supermarket. 

Mike and Marty Scabarozi of Monett are sponsors for this concert. 

The other concerts in the OFO’s 46th season will be on Dec. 17, Feb. 22, and April 12, all at the Monett High School Performing Arts Center at 3 p.m.