On November 10, Orchestra Iowa gave its first performance in the restored Paramount Theatre, which was heavily damaged in 2008 after the Cedar River flooded ten square miles of downtown Cedar Rapids, including the 1920s-era theater. Music Director Timothy Hankewich conducted the November homecoming program of Mussorgsky, Richard Strauss, Gunther Schuller, and Jerry Owen, an Iowa native; the concert was performed to a capacity crowd and broadcast statewide on Iowa Public Television. While the Paramount Theatre was undergoing its $35 million renovation, Orchestra Iowa expanded its reach further throughout eastern Iowa to include performances in Iowa City and Coralville; that story that was covered in the January-February 2010 issue of Symphony .
Posted December 11, 2012
