Daniel Hege leads the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra at ONEOK Field on September 5. Photo: Tom Gilbert/Tulsa World
“The Tulsa Symphony Orchestra did something rather extraordinary Saturday night: It put on a concert, performing the music of Beethoven to an audience of more than 1,600 people,” writes James D. Watts Jr. in Monday’s (9/8) Tulsa World (OK). “On the surface, that may sound like business as usual for the orchestra. But Saturday’s concert was … [according to the Tulsa Symphony] the first performance by a professional orchestra in front of a live audience in this country since mid-March, when the unchecked spread of the coronavirus forced most performing arts organizations and venues to close.… The fact that this concert took place at ONEOK Field—home of the Tulsa Drillers baseball team … made this event all the more special … [and] allowed for easier social distancing.… Complimentary face masks were available.… Tulsa Symphony Executive Director Keith Elder said the attendance—an official total of 1,641 … was larger than the orchestra has drawn for previous season-opening concerts…. That the Tulsa Symphony … has been able to find a way to bring live orchestral music back to Tulsa is an accomplishment of … Herculean proportions.” Resident Guest Conductor Daniel Hege led the all-Beethoven concert, which featured Yefim Bronfman in the Piano Concerto No. 3.
