St. Louis-based performer Bobby Norfolk will be in Jacksonville tonight to repeat his performance with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.
Norfolk was the guest artist during the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra’s youth concerts on February 21st for their performance of Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf.” The Symphony had been trying to get the acclaimed storyteller for the past two years but were delayed by the pandemic. Norfolk will repeat the Feburary performance tonight in an all-ages concert at Rammelkamp Chapel for the symphony’s season March concert at 7:30PM.
Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra Director Garrett Allman says that when he mentioned Norfolk’s performance for the youth concert to the Symphony Board, they wanted him to come back and perform for everyone: “They said, ‘We think the adults would enjoy his performance’ and I agreed. This is a classic children’s musical tale where different instruments represent different characters and animals in the story. Bobby is just a bundle of energy. He combines lively animation, unique sound effects, amazing facial expressions, and laugh-out-loud humor.”
Allman says that Peter & The Wolf performance is a part of the first portion of the program, so parents of young children can leave at the intermission if they so choose.
Allman says the second portion of the program is a piece that was delayed in getting to the public due to the pandemic: “Our big piece on the program is Beethoven’s Symphony #8. We missed opportunities to perform Beethoven in his 250th birthday year, which was 2020, because of the pandemic. We are looking forward to honoring him sort of belatedly now with a performance of his 8th symphony, which is just a delight. It is a little lighter than some of his work. It’s very happy music and has lots of melody. I think people will really enjoy that.”
In addition to Beethoven, the symphony will perform Anglo-African composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s 1898 “Ballade in A minor, Opus 33,” which Allman says is deeply rooted in the romantic period.
Tickets are $20 each for adults. Students of all ages can attend for free. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time at County Market, online at jaxsym-il.org, or at the door at Rammelkamp Chapel prior to the performance at 7:30.