The Ozark Festival Orchestra will conclude its 46th season of concerts in Monett at 3 p.m. on April 12 with the annual Marty Beckwith Memorial Pops Concert, held this year at the Monett High School Performing Arts Center.

This concert is sponsored by the children of long-time OFO cellist and founding member, Marty Beckwith. 

Music Director Carla Wootton takes listeners to the movies with a selection of cinematic music showpieces and a salute to the Armed Forces. For the first time, the OFO will play Trevor Jones’ music from the 1992 film “The Last of the Mohicans,” recreating dramatic moments including the “Elk Hunt,” “The Kiss,” and “Fort Battle.” 

Keeping in that dramatic mood, the OFO will play musical highlights from “Rocky,” John Williams’ score to “Jurassic Park,” the theme from the “James Bond” films, the romance “Somewhere in Time,” and the rowdy overture to “The Magnificent Seven.”

Offering a favorite for audiences, the OFO will also play the “Armed Forces Salute,” drawn from themes from the US Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Air Force, and Navy. The orchestra will ask veterans from those organizations to rise and be recognized. 

The OFO pops concert has traditionally been a benefit for the orchestra to help meet its annual expenses. This year the OFO will again offer a silent auction of pies in the lobby of the performing arts center, and a live auction of specialty pies during intermission. Eating is not allowed in the auditorium, so the winners will take home their prizes for later enjoyment. 

Admission to the concert will be $10 for adults and free to children high school age and younger. Online tickets are available from www.ozarkfestivalorchestra.org. 

The concert will be held at the Monett High School Performing Arts Center, 1 David Sippy Drive, located off East Cleveland Avenue (Business Hwy. 60) at the east end of the city, just west of the Price Cutter Supermarket, two miles north of Walmart on Hwy. 60. 

The OFO is a community orchestra composed of players from southwest Missouri and nearby towns, focusing primarily on classical music. The orchestra is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization supported by sponsors, memberships, local foundations, ads in the orchestra program book, and funds managed by the Monett Community Foundation. 

Additional information is available at www.ozarkfestivalorchestra.org or Facebook/ Ozark Festival Orchestra.

This has been an exciting season for the OFO, a press release from the organization said. 

‘”We secured new staging that enables our brass section to project better into the audience,” the release said. “We acquired new microphones to help the audience hear our soloists. A new keyboard has joined the ensemble that enables us to share the sounds of a harp as needed. The number of players has grown as musicians are drawn into our family by the excitement of performing with us. Carla Wootton has made playing challenging and fun.