Lafayette Symphony Orchestra: A Crescendo of Community Partnerships

Among this season’s homegrown highlights — the debut of the LSO-All City Children’s Choir at the Holiday Pops Concert and a May 2017 concert featuring young, local recipients of recent Keller Memorial Award scholarships.

The centerpiece, however, is “200 Candles: A Hoosier Birthday Bash,” a November concert highlighting Indiana composers — from Hoagy Carmichael and Cole Porter to John Mellencamp and Michael Jackson — and a litany of special guests, such as the Fergus Daly Band, local broadcast personality Mike Piggott, ArtSmart: Indiana, the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette and more.

“Our musicians are adaptable, and have a great attitude about music, to be as at home with Beethoven as they are with Guns ‘n’ Roses,” says Nick Palmer, LSO music director and conductor, now in his 10th season.

“After all, Tchaikovsky was writing the rock music of his day,” Mummey says. “In every concert, we try to create an experience valuable to traditional symphony-goers and those who have never been before. You don’t have to be a classical-music buff.”

Classical music is so firmly entrenched in popular culture that you’re bound to hear something you know at any LSO concert, even if it’s a snippet. Case in point: April’s “Symphonic Sci-Fi,” which features Mozart music familiar to “Alien” aficionados and selections from “Game of Thrones,” the “Harry Potter” films and — in a move that should broker at least a one-night fanboy truce — “Star Wars” and “Star Trek.”

“The LSO is really making efforts to capture the zeitgeist of orchestral music, and we’re fortunate to perform for people from different walks of life that cares about music and all of the arts,” Palmer says.