Press Releases & News Stories
Sisters Anabeth Cox and MarySue Harris support Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra with major gifts
(Excerpt from John Keller’s Lincoln Journal Star article on February 01, 2017. Full article attached above.)
Growing up, sisters Anabeth and MarySue Hormel always had music in their home. Today, their appreciation for live performances has led them to support Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra with major financial gifts.
Neither can remember a time without music; their family members sang together in harmony on road trips, they both played piano, and they loved to play records and dance in their living room to the joyful music of Schubert and Beethoven. In their hometown of McCook, they attended community concerts and learned to appreciate live performances.
Their parents, Thalma Lowe Hormel and Benjamin Franklin Hormel Jr., played a major part in their love for music. Their father had always played the saxophone, and one day, when their mother was out of town, he purchased a piano. When he called to tell her, she said, “By the time I get home, you’d better know how to play it!” So he taught himself, making a list of songs he wanted to learn, and then learning to play them by ear.
Jane Lynch, Joshua Bell part of new LSO season
(Excerpt from Jeff Korbelik’s Lincoln Journal Star article on April 27, 2017. Full article attached above.)
The season begins Sept. 26 with Bell joining the orchestra for Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor. Lynch, a three-time Emmy Award winner, will perform hits from the Great American Songbook during an LSO pops concert on March 2.
Other national guest artists include pianist Simon Dinnerstein on Nov. 10 performing the newly composed Piano Concerto No. 3 by Philip Glass, written especially for Dinnerstein and pianist Mark Markham performing Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto on May 6.
Concertmaster Anton Miller will celebrate his 30th season with LSO, performing Chausson’s Poeme, Op. 25, and Saint-Saens Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. The pieces will be paired with Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony on Jan. 19.
“The highlight of a music season is working with Anton,” Polochick said. “We’re incredibly lucky to have him.”
We Remember Morris Collier with this Lincoln Journal Star Entry
(Excerpt from Margaret Reist’s Lincoln Journal Star article on April 28, 2017. Full article attached above.)
Seven carefully embroidered words, framed and hanging for many years in the room where hundreds of students have learned to play the violin, say much about the recipient of the long-ago gift, a thank you from student to teacher.
“Sir Morris Collier,” say the carefully stitched letters. “Lord of the Strings.”
It’s an apt description of Collier, who died April 23, and spent most of his 92 years playing the violin professionally and sharing his love of music with thousands of students.