This year marks the 67th season for the Casper-based Wyoming Symphony Orchestra. They’re calling it ‘A Moving Symphonic Season’ because the orchestra has a final concert at Casper College this weekend before returning to a newly renovated auditorium in December.
For the past year, the WSO has been performing at Casper College’s Wheeler Concert Hall while its home auditorium has been under renovation. “For us to go to Wheeler was kind of like getting to borrow a Lamborghini for a while,” said conductor Matthew Savery. Wheeler Hall will be the setting for a final pair of performances Saturday and Sunday.
Then in December, the orchestra returns to the now state-of-the-art John F Welsh Auditorium at Natrona County High School. “It’s a much more pleasant place for our audience to experience a concert,” said Savery. “And for us, we think the acoustics will be improved, and the stage is bigger, so we’ll be able to fit easier on the stage, do bigger productions.”
So Savery has programmed a big holiday concert, teaming up with singers for a performance of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. In the spring, the WSO will feature the winner of its second Young Artist competition. For this weekend’s season opener, pianist Spencer Meyer performs Prokofiev’s third piano concerto with the orchestra.
