THE MISSOURI SYMPHONY SOCIETY COMES TO CAPE; FIRST PERFORMANCE HERE SINCE 1986

The Missouri Pops Orchestra will perform in Cape Girardeau this summer for the first time since 1986. The performance is scheduled for June 29 at 8 p.m. at Academic Auditorium.

Beverly Strohmeyer, executive director of the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts, one of the sponsors of the event, said the Missouri Pops will be one of the premiere concert events this year.

"It's one of the main concerts that the Arts Council is sponsoring this year," she said. Boatmen's Bank and Union Electric are other corporate sponsors of the performance.

Led by conductor Hugo Vianello, the Missouri Pops Orchestra is composed of 43 musicians from 12 states. Strohmeyer said the group forms each year in Columbia and travels throughout the state performing concerts.

The orchestra's intensive seven-week summer festival season includes eight series concerts, one children's concert, 10 tour concerts throughout the state and four library chamber recitals.

The performance will include classical and contemporary selections, including a medley from "The Sound of Music" and a salute to America, she said.

Opening the concert will be Strauss's overture "Die Fledermaus" and Ponchielli's ballet "Dance of the Hours," from the movie "Fantasia." The well-loved waltz "Swan Lake" from Tschaikowsky will be performed as well.

Vianello founded the orchestra in 1977 and has guided it since. He is a violinist, composer and arranger in addition to being artistic director and conductor of the Missouri Symphony Society in Columbia. He is also associate conductor of the Kansas City Symphony.

Lindsey McKee, a British-American singer and actress now from Kansas City, will make her debut this summer as mistress of ceremonies for the Pops Orchestra tour. As mistress of ceremonies, she will guide the concert, introduce sidelights and sing a song or two.

The orchestra's program also contains humorous surprises like former Missourian Randall Davidson's "Mexico-Bolivar Tango" and an improvisation piece for bassoon.

A patriotic "American Salute" based on "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" rounds out the concert.

Vianello holds a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He played viola for the Minnesota Symphony and the New York Philharmonic before turning his attention to conducting.

He made his conducting debut with the Oklahoma City Symphony. During his subsequent tenure as assistant conductor of the Kansas City Philharmonic, he founded the Kansas City Civic Orchestra. He was also music director of the Lansing, Mich., Symphony and director of orchestral activities at Northwestern University.

He returned to Missouri to accept an appointment as director of orchestral activities at Stephens College. It was during this time that he founded the Missouri Symphony Society.

Tickets are $5 in advance and $6 at the door. Tickets for children under 18 are $2.50 in advance and $3 at the door. They are available at the Arts Council office, 100 Broadway, and at all Boatmen's Bank locations.