Orchestra Iowa programs season of sound all around the state

Orchestra Iowa will be a symphony on the go next season. The venerable ensemble based in Cedar Rapids will be reaching out to even more corners of the Corridor and the state with its 2010-11 season, 'The Sound is All Around.' Season tickets go on sale Monday at the Symphony Center, 119 Third Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids.

Displaced from the Paramount Theatre by the Floods of 2008, the orchestra will continue to perform primarily in Sinclair Auditorium at Coe College in Cedar Rapids and West High School in Iowa City.

The group also will venture into the new 1,000-seat concert hall at Prairie High School in Cedar Rapids with Verdi's Requiem in March and Mahler's Fifth Symphony in June 2011.

'Verdi's Requiem is not only a massive piece, but it's our first time performing in Prairie's auditorium. That is a huge accomplishment for us,' says Timothy Hankewich, the orchestra's music director. 'Now that we're in the middle of bringing back the Paramount, it's important for the audience to realize what great acoustics can do for a performing organization.

It's spectacular,' he says of Prairie's $7.5 million state-of-the-art facility, which opened last year.

Orchestra Iowa is living up to its new name by heading to Decorah, Mason City, Cedar Falls, Coralville, Davenport and Fairfield.

'Our programming has never taken us more far afield than next season,' says Hankewich, 42, of Cedar Rapids, entering his fifth season at the symphony's helm. 'When we changed our name, it was with that understanding. There comes a responsibility with regionalism and with the loss of the Paramount.

We also understood that unless we expand our audience and donor base, we wouldn't be able to sustain our orchestra.' Audiences are traveling with the symphony, he says.

'It was a struggle when it first began, but now that a semblance of routine has set in, audiences are finding us and are growing, most specifically in Iowa City,' he says.

'We have found since the flood that subscriptions are down but single-ticket (sales) are up.' Two of the newest venues have brought the