The Knox–Galesburg Symphony will kick off the holiday season Saturday with a concert called “A Celebration of Spirit,” featuring the guest conducting debut of a musician with deep local roots.
Knox County native and multi-instrumentalist Wes Anderson will lead the symphony through a program of three well-known suites — Edvard Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suite No. 1”, Georges Bizet’s “Carmen Suite No. 1,” and Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker Suite.”
Anderson, who attended ROWVA schools, said the selections are familiar, cinematic, and emotionally vivid.
“It’s kind of a night of suites,” he said. “So about every four minutes will be a different kind of movement. It’s going to be really accessible for people. If you don't like something, wait two minutes — it’ll change.”
Anderson is no stranger to the Knox-Galesburg Symphony.
“My first symphony concert was the KGS when I was in junior high with my mom,” he said.
When he realized in his early high school years that he really liked music, he began studying violin with KGS concertmaster Louise Polay before switching to bass and taking lessons with several symphony musicians.
“I took lessons with Steve Jackson who is with the Knox- Galesburg Symphony and then I took lessons with Brian Daw and Andy Crawford, and I fell in love with bass,” Anderson said. “I played at all the jazz nights.”
Anderson went on to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, work in film scoring in Los Angeles, and perform with the Army band before returning to teach at ROWVA High School in recent years. He also earned a master’s degree in music from Western Illinois University.
So when Anderson is conducting the orchestra on Saturday, he’ll be conducting many of his former teachers and mentors.
“It will be awkward in some moments to look down at the ensemble and see people who I've known since I was in junior high and be leading them. But I also think that it's a huge honor. I think it’s so special to get to lead people who taught you, and I take that as a great responsibility,” he said.
Anderson said with familiar music, fast-moving suites, and affordable tickets, the concert is an opportunity for everyone in the community to experience live orchestral music — and, like he did years ago — feel welcomed into what a symphony can do.
“A Celebration of Spirit” starts at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22 at Galesburg’s Orpheum Theatre, 57 S. Kellogg St.
Tickets are available on the Orpheum’s website, or at the door.
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