MSO kicks off its new season with a program of Bach and Ravel

The Modesto Symphony Orchestra kicks off its 82nd season Oct. 12-13 with a concert of Bach and Ravel at the Gallo Center for the Arts.

"It's a very beautiful and colorful program, lots of different styles, a little something for everybody — composers taking styles and adapting to orchestra and solo instruments and dressing them up in new gowns," conductor David Lockington said.

The program features J.S. Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, Maurice Ravel's gypsy theme "Tzigane," Jules Massenet's "Meditation" from the opera "Thais," Edward Elgar's Serenade for Strings and Ottorino Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 2.

Violinist Dylana Jenson, Lockington's wife, is making her second appearance as a soloist withthe orchestra. This time, she will perform the Massenet and the Ravel pieces. She last soloed with the orchestra in April 2010. Jenson was the youngest and first American woman to win the silver medal in the prestigious Tchaikovsky competition.

The Massenet is a slow, beautiful melody that will be familiar to many audience members. The Ravel is a more flashy piece. "That's the most exciting piece because it's a real virtuosic showpiece for violin," Lockington said.

But Lockington said his favorite piece on the program is the Respighi because it's so elegant.

"Respigi is taking Renaissance themes and putting them on the orchestra and making them sort of glow," he said. "It would be like a painter taking the Mona Lisa and dressing the Mona Lisa up in different clothes — different habitat — making a modern version but still it's the Mona Lisa. All the notes are very pure — he doesn't change the notes that much. He adds a few notes to make it more sweet in a way."

The program, like all the programs this season, uses slightly fewer musicians than the Modesto Symphony Orchestra has used in the past.

"We've cut back our budget somewhat to match the needs of the times," he said. "We've created programs that I think are going to be really beautiful for our audiences."

WHAT: Modesto Symphony Orchestra: Bach and Ravel

WHEN: 8 p.m. Oct. 12-13

WHERE: Rogers Theater, Gallo Center for the Arts, 1000 I St., Modesto

TICKETS: $15-$89

CALL:(209) 338-2100

ONLINE: www.galloarts.org