Ottumwa Symphony Orchestra to Celebrate 40th Season
The Ottumwa Symphony Orchestra kicks off its 2026–2027 season with MASTERWORKS #1: A Salute to America! on Saturday, October 24 at 7:30 PM at the Bridge View Center. Under the baton of Dr. William LaRue Jones, this unforgettable program continues to honor America’s 250th birthday, while celebrating the organization’s 40th season. Highlights will include two features penned by Charles Ives: Variations on “America” and Symphony No. 2.
Ives composed Variations on “America” in 1891 at just seventeen years old, while serving as the organist at the Methodist church in Brewster, New York. He prepared the piece for a Fourth of July celebration the following year, choosing the well‑known tune “America” (“My Country, ’Tis of Thee”), which at the time functioned as the de facto national anthem of the United States. Although Ives later described the work as “a boy’s work, partly serious and partly in fun,” the piece already reveals the adventurous musical imagination that would define his mature style.
Today, Variations on “America” stands as a charming early glimpse into Ives’s creative world—bold, good‑humored, and unmistakably American. It invites audiences to hear a familiar patriotic tune transformed through the imagination of a young composer who would later become one of the most original voices in American music.
Symphony No. 2 was composed between 1897 and 1902, during Ives’ early adulthood in New York City. Although he wrote it before developing the radical musical language that later defined his reputation, the symphony already reveals his fascination with American musical identity—blending European symphonic tradition with distinctly American tunes, creating a work that feels both familiar and subtly subversive. The symphony remained unperformed for decades. Ives, who often doubted whether the musical world was ready for his ideas, tucked the score away until conductor Leonard Bernstein championed it. Bernstein led the premiere with the New York Philharmonic in 1951—nearly fifty years after the work was written—instantly establishing the symphony as an important early chapter in Ives’s output.
The piece is celebrated for its charm, originality, and unmistakable American character. It invites audiences to hear the concert hall and the town square at once, blending high art with everyday musical life in a way only Charles Ives could imagine.
Timeless favorite Lincoln Portrait, narrated by prominent Ottumwan Alex Morley, will also appear on the program and is sure to enthrall audiences of all ages. Composed by Aaron Copland in 1942, the United States had just entered World War II. Conductor André Kostelanetz commissioned the work as part of a series honoring “eminent Americans,” and Copland chose Abraham Lincoln as his subject after briefly considering Walt Whitman. The piece quickly became one of Copland’s most beloved patriotic works and remains a staple of American orchestral repertoire.
Lincoln Portrait is written for narrator and orchestra and unfolds in three broad sections. Copland described the opening as evoking the “mysterious sense of fatality” surrounding Lincoln’s personality, gradually revealing his gentleness and simplicity. The middle section depicts the turbulent era in which Lincoln lived, full of rhythmic vitality and bustling orchestral color. The final section frames Lincoln’s own words—drawn from his speeches and letters—set against a dignified musical backdrop.
Mark your calendars for the remaining season events as well:
- Masterworks #2: A Salute to Youth! – February 20, 2027
- Masterworks #3: A Salute to Masterworks! – April 24, 2027
For more information about the orchestra’s full season and to purchase ticket, CLICK HERE. Kids 12 and under get in FREE to all concerts, and all other students are admitted free with a student ID.