| Symphony plans start to take shape Group founder hopes venture will help build strong arts community 05/31/2001 By Ian McCann / The Dallas Morning News
Jennifer Ann Wittstruck loves to go to the symphony, but she hates the
trek to Dallas or Fort Worth. She would rather see a performance in her
own city than see a neighboring community's orchestra.
So she had an idea: Why not start an orchestra in Frisco?
In the year since the idea was born, it has transformed into Symphonia
Frisco, which has a conductor and musical consultant on board and could
stage its first performance as early as this September.
Ms. Wittstruck, who has lived in Frisco for 14 years, said she hopes the
group will eventually be a part of a strong arts community in the city
that will complement Frisco's choral group and the community theater
group.
"I'd like to see Frisco be in the center of the North Texas region's
cultural arts," she said. "It could be one that brings people in from
Greenville, Denison, Sherman and places like that."
Ms. Wittstruck said she hopes to eventually have 50 to 75 performers in
the group, but the number would depend on community interest and the
size the performance space. She said the group would perform in school
auditoriums or churches until a permanent performance venue in the city
could be built.
The group's conductor, Randall Keith Horton, has started several
community symphonies in Northern California during his 35-year musical
career. He said he has been impressed with Ms. Wittstruck's work. He is
also a board member with the Greater North Texas Philharmonic Society,
which has taken Symphonia Frisco under its umbrella. The society did the
same with the Allen Philharmonic Symphony when that group was founded in
1997.
"This is vital to the community, especially from the point of view of
the young," he said. "You solidify the artistic community in the city
for the future. It's something that will help to knit the community
together."
Mr. Horton is working with the group's musical adviser, Don Hermonat,
who founded the Frisco Chorale, to help develop detailed plans. So far,
plans for Symphonia Frisco call for three groups, Ms. Wittstruck said.
The primary one would be the community orchestra, which will be joined
by smaller chamber groups and a youth orchestra made up of high
school-age musicians.
Ms. Wittstruck said the group has not begun to recruit musicians or
raise money but will start in early July. People interested in helping
can call Ms. Wittstruck at 972-335-2608.
The one thing she doesn't want to do, Ms. Wittstruck said, is to start a
program that will fail.
"There are people from all segments of the community and people from
outside the community that are supporting us," she said. "But I don't
want to see this start up and then go away."
Mr. Horton said that even with all the other symphony groups around
Collin County – including those in Plano, Allen and Richardson – he
expects the Frisco group to thrive.
"They have quite a potential," Mr. Horton said. "It's a growing
community with a large base of professional individuals. It's ripe for
this."
Staff writer Ian McCann can be reached at 214-977-6978 and at .
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