Symphony at the Celebration|May 5, 2009         Calsonic Arena | Shelbyville, Tennessee

The Shelbyville Central High School band has been confirmed as a guest ensemble for this year’s “Symphony at the Celebration” concert, following appearances by the Community High School band in 2007 and the Cascade High School band last year. The SCHS band, like its predecessors, will perform on its own and then later will play in tandem with the symphony for the concert’s grand finale.

Also, long-time “Symphony at the Celebration” favorites the Motlow College Jazz Ensemble will return to provide pre-concert and intermission entertainment. The pre-concert will run from 6-6:30 p.m.; the symphony uses the 6:30-7 p.m. time frame to prepare for its performance.

General admission tickets will go on sale April 3 at all Regions Bank locations in Shelbyville and Tullahoma. Box seats will be available from the Elm Street location of Regions Bank in Shelbyville.

Albert-George Schram, who conducted the “Symphony at the Celebration” concert in 2007, will return for the 2009 event, May 5 at Calsonic Arena. Maestro Schram is the symphony’s resident conductor and typically conducts its pops concerts. His charm and humor made him a big hit at 2007’s concert, and we expect he will be a crowd favorite again in 2009.

The Symphony at the Celebration local steering committee offers its condolences to the family of Scott McDonald, who died this morning at age 63. No single person did more to promote and shape this community effort than Scott. When the bank Scott headed stepped in to rescue the concert after its founding sponsor cut back, Scott formed the local steering committee and brought in Bedford County Arts Council, which eventually turned a simple symphony concert into a community event, with local artists and school children participating alongside the professional musicians.

Scott’s selfless support of this concert was an outgrowth of his love of the community, and he was convinced that the concert would be, and should be, a benefit to the community and the region. He will be deeply and profoundly missed.

Thanks to all of you who attended this year’s concert. We sold all of our original run of 750 adult tickets, plus some of the last-minute paper tickets that we’d printed up, so we believe we had in the neighborhood of 800 adults present, plus all of the children and students who were admitted free of charge. (No count on those ticket stubs yet, and we think some may have been admitted without the free tickets.) Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. The symphony, the Cascade High School Band, and the Motlow Jazz Band were all fantastic.

We look forward to seeing all of you in attendance for our 20th anniversary concert in spring 2009.