Connecticut’s Orchestra Lumos with Music Director Michael Stern.
In Sunday’s (2/18) NewsTimes (Norwalk, CT), John Breunig writes, “When Orchestra Lumos presents ‘Bugs Bunny at the Symphony: 30th Anniversary Edition,’ at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25, it will mark a first for the former Stamford Symphony, which traces its roots to 1919. The 65-piece orchestra has never played in synch with film before…. Orchestra Lumos President Russell Jones admits some potential ticket-buyers are flummoxed by whether they will see cartoons or simply listen to Looney Tunes music. ‘We’re doing both,’ he clarifies…. The fact that 50 percent of the Bugs Bunny ticket sales have been to people who are new to Lumos is ‘the best news we could get. It proves that if you put something different on, people will come,’ Jones says. And while the animated characters draw out the child in everyone, they can also introduce a new generation to orchestral music. In the weeks to come, Lumos will also host all 1,400 of Stamford fourth-grade students at the Palace for a distaff version of ‘Peter and the Wolf’ (‘Whitney and the Wolf’)…. Lumos is also striving to fulfill a mission to cross city borders and perform in other parts of the state.”
