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Discover the heartbeat of Juneau's cultural and community landscape with 'Capital Chat.' This series explores the vibrant world of the community, arts, and dynamic cultural and social events happening in Alaska's Capital City. Tune in to 'Capital Chat' for your essential guide to the pulse of our community, where every story is an adventure and every voice matters.
And now Capital Chat on KINY, where we connect you with Juneau and Southeast Alaska's community organizations only on KINY.
Speaker 2:Joining me from the, Juneau Symphony, executive director Charlotte Truett. Charlotte, hello. Good to see you again.
Speaker 3:Good morning. Good to see you.
Speaker 2:So, let's reflect on on this season of the, Juneau Symphony, how it went, the highs, the challenges, and what we're looking forward to for the the next season.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Well, we had a fabulous season. It's our first season with our new music director, Brad Hogarth.
Speaker 2:Fantastic, by the
Speaker 3:He is really incredible and, has a real heart for our community and has a way of connecting with the audience and, and the musicians. And I think that's reflected in the experience of the of the concerts. And so we had, really strong attendance. You know, I think our last concert was probably almost record breaking attendance for our pops concert, which was fabulous. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And, lot of community engagement, lot of involvement with our young people, and, we're just really excited about the momentum also going into next season as well. And that'll begin. Our first concert will be October the first weekend in October. And, our season tickets will be on sale here pretty soon. We we start off with our returning season ticket holders.
Speaker 3:They get to save get their same seats again. Yep. And, that's one of the benefits of being a season ticket holder, and, that communication will go out to folks in the next couple weeks. And, once we get our returning season ticket holders taken care of, then we'll open it up for the the whole community.
Speaker 2:Now, has Brad and his wife had their their child here?
Speaker 3:Not yet. They are waiting. It should be any time now. Yeah. Every time I I touch base with him, I'm like, okay.
Speaker 3:Don't wanna be, checking in too often, but they are expecting a baby any day now.
Speaker 2:And I can't remember if, did he put together the Christmas show last year?
Speaker 3:No. She did. He did not.
Speaker 2:Last year.
Speaker 3:But it was, we we partner with Sitka Holiday Brass, and that's with Roger Schmidt and also with Vox Borealis, which is Sarah Ratke Brown. Mhmm. And so Sarah and Roger confer to develop the program.
Speaker 2:And Okay.
Speaker 3:We're already starting on it now. We've got a couple of great new surprises that'll be in store for us for the holidays.
Speaker 2:Yeah. We have the wildlife cruise coming up, which is, not only a wonderful event, but a great fundraiser for the Juneau Symphony. That's July 19. What that what is that experience gonna be like for
Speaker 3:you? You know, a lot of folks in town do wildlife cruises, but the thing that makes this one special is we have live music by Juneau Symphony musicians. And, so we'll have a a trio of wind players this year, Colleen Torrance playing flute, Foster Russian playing clarinet, and Kelly Sisk on oboe. That'll be really nice. And they'll kinda be minstrels working their way downstairs and upstairs for folks that are familiar with our friends at Allen Marine, those great boats that get out there.
Speaker 3:And of course, the beautiful wildlife. And I don't know. They often say that our live music makes the whales show up because they hear all that music under the boat, and they just we have very good luck.
Speaker 2:Was gonna I was gonna say that there there's something really magical about being on that ship with classical music Mhmm. Surrounded by wildlife. It really is something that you have to experience.
Speaker 3:Right. It's it's kind of amazing. And so we we get to hear that beautiful music. We also do wine tasting, and we have a really nice silent auction. And, the auction includes things like experiences that people aren't gonna find in other places.
Speaker 3:Like, in our last concert, we, have an auction item where someone can bid on the opportunity to conduct the orchestra.
Speaker 2:Now who now who was the winner this year?
Speaker 3:Last at the last concert, it was, Marty Myers.
Speaker 2:Marty. He was fantastic.
Speaker 3:Yeah. He came out in his cowboy hat.
Speaker 2:Yep. Just embodied the whole thing. That was
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And he
Speaker 3:was like, this is an experience of a lifetime. He loved it. He's like, anybody that's interested in that, they should do it. It is so much fun to conduct the orchestra. So the individual will work with Brad.
Speaker 3:Brad will prepare them, and then they are part of a couple of rehearsals. And, it's just a really, memorable experience. And so
Speaker 2:So they they, in that situation when they win that, they actually learn what what the waving of the arms actually means.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because I'd be up there flailing and not I have no idea what I'm, what I'm I'm indicating to you to play at this moment.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. You get a little conducting lesson from Brad and have a great time getting to be have that bird's eye view and looking out on the audience, you know, of a thousand you know, of the 650, 700 people there in your community supporting you, and it's it's really amazing. So that will be one of our auction items Okay. On the the silent auction.
Speaker 2:And to, not only buy tickets to this event, because they'll go quickly. Room room is limited. But to, yeah, consider, becoming a member or to buy season tickets, what do folks need to do? It's all the same website. Right?
Speaker 3:All the same website. Juneausymphony.org, and we'll be updating that as we go along here in the next few weeks ready to roll out the next season. K. And, if people have questions too about getting, early bird seeding, they can just give us a call at, (907) 586-4676.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about, summer camps because they're coming up in August, and they'll go quickly too. Right?
Speaker 3:Yes. Very quickly. We have a really successful strings camp, and, that is led by Franz Felkel and Megan Johnson. And, we're doing it at the Rec Center at UAS. So that's a really wonderful facility.
Speaker 3:They've got great classrooms and then a gymnasium, and our kids get out and they go berry picking in the trails, and then they walk around, UAS campus doing some hiking and go around Oak Lake. So it's a really wonderful, experience for young musicians who have some experience with strings. So you you have to be able to have had some experience, but it's a wonderful way to get, the young people getting back on their instruments before the school year starts. Yeah. And it kinda gets them, engaged again after a summer of having some downtime, then they can get reengaged and ready for the school year ahead.
Speaker 3:So we have about 35 already registered. And, if folks wanna get on board with that, we need to hear from them in the next week or so.
Speaker 2:Fantastic. Thank you for coming in and sharing the wildlife cruise July 19 tickets at juneausymphony.org. Great to see you again.
Speaker 3:Great. Thank you so much, Cliff.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:You've been listening to Capital Chat on KINY, your connection to the people and organizations making a difference in Juneau in Southeast Alaska. Subscribe to the Capital Chat podcast everywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts and at kinyradio.com. Yep.