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Western Plains Arts Association will present its final program of the 2016-2017 season, on Sunday, May 7. The Pride of the Prairie Orchestra will perform at 3 p.m. CDT at Colby’s Cultural Arts Center, Colby Community College. This is a make up new date and venue due to the recent blizzard.
The Pride of the Prairie Orchestra is a community orchestra that has been making music for over 25 years. Conducted by Beverly Rucker, the group presently includes 30 musicians from western Kansas and eastern Colorado, including the towns of Burlington, Colby, Goodland, Grainfield, Grinnell, Hoxie, Oakley, Wallace, and Weskan.
They will be presenting “Myths, Legends and Tales”. The concert will be entirely composed of program music – music that paints a picture or tells a story. The concert will include John Henry by Copland, Great Locomotive Chase by Smith, Mars and Jupiter by Holst, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Dukas, along with many other wonderful musical stories.
Admission is by displaying either WPAA or Pride of the Prairie season tickets. General admission is just $5 at the door. The Dane Hansen Foundation, Logan, Kansas, has been a special contributor to WPAA this season, along with businesses and individual donors from throughout the region.
The mission of the orchestra is to provide a rehearsal and performance group for area musicians and to provide live classical orchestra concerts for area audiences. Since area schools do not offer an orchestra program, this has group has also met a need for students who play stringed, reed, and other common orchestra instruments.
Organized originally as The Colby Community Orchestra in 1979 by Bill Beck, a retired school music director, the name was changed to Pride of the Prairie Orchestra in 1998 after a contest. The orchestra offers a cultural outlet often lacking in small communities for musicians and audiences. Area musicians wanting to become a member of the orchestra may join at anytime. From fall through spring, weekly rehearsals are in the Colby Community College Band Room on Monday nights, 7:30-9 p.m. Central time.