November 26 / 2:30 pm & 6 p.m.
Join the South Bend Symphony for a magical family concert, “Peter and the Wolf”, featuring the acclaimed Shades of Orange Theater troupe! Delight in this captivating performance that brings Prokofiev’s timeless classic to life with enchanting music and vivid storytelling. Perfect for audiences of all ages, this unforgettable concert is a must-see experience that will spark imaginations and create cherished memories.
This one-hour concert is perfect for audience members of all ages!
Program
R.W. SMITH – The Tempest (with Shades of Orange)
GWYNETH WALKER – Music of the Land: Portraits of Rural America
PROKOFIEV – Peter and the Wolf (with Shades of Orange)
About Shades of Orange
Shades of Orange’s mission is to create space where theatrical artists can thrive, building access for every audience member to experience and engage with Shakespeare, new works, and underperformed writers. Theatre for, by, and in the community. To do theatre where theatre isn’t done.
About Shira Samuels-Shragg
American conductor Shira Samuels-Shragg was recently selected for The Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute, and as a 2024 mentee of the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship. This fall, Shira will assume her new position as assistant conductor for the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, while maintaining her current assistant conductor post with the Plano Symphony Orchestra. Recently, Shira guest conducted interdisciplinary concerts with the Spokane, Corpus Christi, and South Bend symphony orchestras. She is passionate about sharing the wonders of music with young audiences and has led education concerts with the Spokane and Plano symphonies for over 23,000 students, served as cover conductor for Young People’s Concerts with the New York Philharmonic, and co-founded Plano Symphony’s Summer Youth Orchestra Camp. Shira co-founded the Youth Orchestra Camp with PSO’s Education Director, Dr. Jennifer Wheeler, with whom Shira has launched multiple other new community initiatives. These projects include the P.I.T. Program, designed to recruit and mentor high school musicians to perform in musical theater productions with North Texas Performing Arts (NTPA), and the Women Composers Concert Series which begins in spring of 2024.
Last summer, Shira joined Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the USA 2022 as their Assistant Conductor for their New York residency and tour across Europe with Daniel Harding. Shira was one of NYO’s inaugural conducting apprentices as a high schooler in 2015, and was delighted to return seven years later as their assistant.
In May 2022, Shira graduated with her Master of Music in orchestral conducting from The Juilliard School, where she studied with David Robertson. While there, she served as assistant conductor to guest artists such as Barbara Hannigan and Sir Antonio Pappano. As co-conductor of the Juilliard Lab Orchestra, Shira made her Alice Tully Hall debut. Additionally, she curated two conducting recitals that placed new works in conversation with classical symphonies.
Shira holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music with a minor in German Studies from Swarthmore College, where she studied conducting with Andrew Hauze, and piano with Marcantonio Barone. While at Swarthmore, she served as Music Director for the world premiere of Cassandra, an opera by composer Thomas Whitman and poet/librettist Nathalie Anderson. This experience deepened Shira’s desire to continue using music to uplift women’s voices and stories and solidified her love of opera.
Musicians
Meet the musicians here!
Series Sponsor
Thank you to our generous sponsor; Shein Trust Community Series.
Thank you to Jordan Lexus of Mishawaka for being the proud artistic sponsor of the 2023-24 Season
Program subject to change.
Sponsors
