Kankakee|Featured Event
Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra: Beautiful Places: ¡Qué hermoso lugar! (Music of Spain)
The Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra (KVSO) is pleased to announce the next concert of its 2026-2027 Season: Beautiful Places - ¡Qué hermoso lugar! – featuring music inspired by Spain. On Saturday, October 17 at 7:00 p.m., Dr. Sean Paul MILLS, the KVSO’s Artistic Director & Conductor, will lead the orchestra in a program featuring music by Joaquin RODRIGO, Edouard LALO, Isaac ALBENIZ, and Emmanuel CHABRIER, and featuring the KVSO’s Principal Cello, Bob HAUSER, as soloist.
This energetic and passionate program will feature both familiar and unfamiliar works inspired by the people, culture, and natural beauty of Spain. Joquin RODRIGO’s Tres Viejas Aires de Danza (Three Old Dance Airs/Tunes) opens the concert with the past meeting the musical vision of a modern composer in a delightful work for chamber orchestra. The KVSO’s Principal Cello, Bob HAUSER, then joins the full orchestra for Edouard LALO’s virtuosic and impassioned Cello Concerto in d minor. Following intermission, the orchestra will take us on a musical journey through the Spanish countryside as it performs two movements from Isaac ALBENIZ’s Iberia: Suite for Orchestra – Evocation & Fete-Dieu a Seville and Emmanual CHABRIER’s Espana.
Cellist Bob HAUSER has “survived” both of the more lucrative family employment paths of auto repair and house painting to be a performer & educator of cello and upright bass. As a cellist, he has performed with the Beloit-Janesville Symphony, Rockford Symphony, Elgin Symphony, Champaign Urbana Symphony, Illinois Symphony, New Philharmonic, Illinois Philharmonic, Waukegan Symphony, Whiting Pops Orchestra, Peoria Symphony, Southwest Symphony, and Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra. Bob spent 3 years at Illinois Wesleyan University where he studied cello with Barbara Hedlund and bass with Bill Koehler. He finished his Bachelor’s degree in Music at Northern Illinois University and stayed for 2 years of Master’s studies with cellist Marc Johnson. He was a low string specialist for Lincolnway Youth Strings for 7 years as well as spending short stints teaching beginning orchestra and high school orchestra.
Plan on joining Sean Paul at 6:15 p.m. for the free pre-concert discussion “Beyond the Score” as he discusses the composers, compositions, and inspiration behind the works featured on the program.
Experiencing this lovingly created and performed music in the comfortable confines of the Sanctuary at Asbury United Methodist Church in Kankakee. Please join us for this memorable and moving concert experience as we continue our 59th Season “Beautiful Places.”
Tickets for KVSO concerts are available through the KVSO website at www.kvso.org and at the door beginning one (1) hour before each performance. Adults are $30 and Children are $5.