Wichita Symphony orchestra revises Saturday afternoon concerts in the parks schedule

The first half of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra’s 2020-21 season will have neither the full corps of musicians on stage nor a full audience at Century II.

What it will have in its “reimagined” season is smaller-scale performances for socially distanced audiences at its longtime concert hall, on-demand video versions of those concerts, and community outreach that includes Saturday afternoon concerts in Wichita parks beginning next weekend.

The orchestra will continue its monthly concerts, scheduled for Oct. 24, Nov. 14 and Dec. 6. Because of crowd restrictions and social distancing, 300 tickets will be sold for the 1,669-seat main floor of Century II (the balcony will not be available), $40 per person for members, $50 for non-members and a limited number of $15 student tickets.

“If you are comfortable – and there’s going to be a whole list of safety precautions and mask-wearing and hand sanitizing that goes with that public face of it – members will have first dibs on purchasing tickets for any live event,” symphony CEO Don Reinhold said.

The concerts will have chamber-style ensembles: strings only in October, strings in the first half and brass and percussion in the second half in November, and woodwinds, brass and some percussion in December.

“We can’t have the full symphony orchestra there, so we still have to make every effort to get them to play,” conductor and musical director Daniel Hege said. “We also want to have very invigorating, interesting programming, engaging for a symphony-going public.”

With six-foot distancing, Hege said, the maximum number of players on stage is 30. The largest ensemble that will perform is between 22-25 players, he said.

Strings players will be masked and, in a break from longtime symphony tradition, not share a music stand. Percussion players also will be masked. Brass players will be separated enough that aerosols from their horns pose no danger to each other.

For those who do not want to venture into Century II, a video form will be available. “WSO Connect” will offer those concerts on-demand for a 30-day viewing period, beginning a week after the concert. The cost is $150 per family for the entire 2020-21 season.

Reinhold said three to four video cameras will be in place at each concert for a variety of angles.

He said several other symphonies have opted for the on-demand video presentations.

“I think this may be sort of an indicator for the future,” Reinhold said. “A year ago, we never would have dreamed of it because of the cost and the expense. Now we’re forced into doing it, and I think there may be potential to help us shape the future.”

Should size restrictions become even more limited by the city, county or state – and all plans, symphony officials caution, are subject to change because of the pandemic’s unpredictable nature – the concerts may become video-only.

The first step in the reimagined season begins next weekend, when the symphony, in conjunction with Wichita Park & Recreation, presents the first of two “Playing Across the Parks” Saturday afternoon concert tour.

“This presented a perfect opportunity,” Reinhold said.

From 1-4 p.m. Sept. 26 and Oct. 3, Wichita Symphony musicians will give 30-minute concerts in various parks representing different neighborhoods in Wichita. The two weeks will have a different list of parks, with the exception of Naftzger Park downtown, which will be included both weeks. Oct. 10 will be a rain date.

A change in the symphony’s decades-old Young People’s Concerts is also in the works, likely in a video format but with no specifics yet.

“It stands to reason that schools are not taking field trips, nor could we put 13,000 kids in Century II over the course of three mornings,” Reinhold said.

Orchestras worldwide plan their seasons years in advance, primarily to secure the talents of guest soloists. Reinhold and Hege said the soloists who were scheduled for the 2020-21 season, as well as those who were to play this year in the March, April and May concerts, are attempting to reschedule.

The WSO staff kept an eye on other orchestras, frequently using the Houston Symphony and some European orchestras as models, before making decisions for Wichita.

“We’ve waited as long as we could,” Reinhold said. “There’s no prize for being first.”

Likewise, a pops concert that was scheduled for May 16 featuring Kristin Chenoweth, produced by Grumpy Old Men, is still being discussed.

“We’re in talks,” Reinhold said. “It all depends on the pandemic. It’s all contingent about being able to put 2,000 people in the concert hall.”

Since the pandemic shut down operations in mid-March, WSO staff and performers have branched out to an online format, including Facebook Live videos from Hege, talking about both conducting and performing and showing his prowess as a chef, to partner for audience engagement and concertmaster Holly Mulcahy’s regularly scheduled concerts over Zoom.

“It broadened our base, particularly with Facebook and Holly’s Zoom recitals,” Reinhold said. “People from all over the country, maybe even the world in some cases, are noticing what Wichita’s doing, and I think that has some importance. We don’t have the profile of the New York Philharmonic. But for some people out there, beyond Wichita, to care what we’re doing is also important.”

“Very simply put, it was a way to relate to our concertgoers and the general public far beyond the Wichita radius, to stay in touch with people and let them know we’re here and not far from consciousness, so that when we get out of this, they’ll still remember us,” Hege added.

Plans for the second half of the season will be announced later this year.

Reinhold and Hege are entering the first half of the unique 2020-21 season with caution, realizing the upcoming months will be different from anything they’ve experienced.

“That’s a very complicated situation,” Reinhold said. “Symphony orchestras’ whole business model is that you sell 1,000, 2,000 subscriptions and that provides you with the revenue to go forward. Suddenly we’re looking at a situation where you can’t put more than 300 people in the hall. We don’t know how many of those patrons are comfortable coming.”

However, he added, “We feel pretty comfortable we can pull this off.”

Playing Across the Parks

Here is the schedule for the Wichita Symphony’s “Playing Across the Parks” program. All the programs are 30 minutes long, free and feature smaller ensembles of symphony musicians.

Sept. 26

1 p.m.: Naftzger Park, 601 E. Douglas

1:30 p.m.: Pawnee Prairie Park, 2625 S. Tyler

2 p.m.: Fairmount Park, 1647 N. Yale

2:30 p.m.: West Douglas Park, 3201 W. Douglas

3 p.m.: Chisholm Creek Park. 3228 N. Oliver

3:30 p.m.: McAdams Park, 1329 E. 13th St.

Oct. 3

1 p.m.: Cessna Park East, 6115 E. Mt. Vernon

1:30 p.m.: Naftzger Park, 601 E. Douglas

2 p.m.: Murdock Park, 1808 E. Murdock

2:30 p.m.: Central Riverside Park, 720 Nims

3 p.m.: Dr. Glen Dey Park, 2801 N. Grove

3:45 p.m.: Buffalo Park, 10201 Hardtner

This story was originally published September 20, 2020 at 5:01 AM.