Serving a mission

Chicago Symphony Orchestra to perform at McKnight Center

Luisa Clausen News & Lifestyle Editor

After six years of negotiations, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will come to Oklahoma for the third time.

The McKnight Center will host Riccardo Muti, one of the world’s preeminent conductors, and his orchestra on Saturday at 8 p.m.

Mark A. Blakeman, the executive director of the McKnight Center, is responsible for the behind the scene operations at the performance center. Blakeman is involved with the artistic planning and plays an active role in determining what artists play in the center every year. After working in the field for 25 years, Blakeman said it’s important to hire specialized professionals to work with orchestras.

“Orchestras in the U.S., as well as most opera companies, are all unionized,” Blakeman said. “They work under a collective agreement. There is a tremendous amount of structure put around the parameters of their work, being able to understand that and speak that language is paramount to being able to successfully present professional orchestras and dance companies.”

The Chicago Symphony is one of the world’s leading orchestras and the staff at the McKnight Center carefully organized their actions behind the scenes so the performance could happen. Blakeman said there is always anxiety when planning an event this big but the secret to being successful is putting together a group of employees who are devoted and passionate about the arts.

“We have a production outline, which we use for each performance here and carries a lot of detail so that everybody in the company has access to the same information,” Blakeman said. “We meet every week as a full team. We talk about those events from all angles. From a ticketing perspective, front and back of the house management, marketing.”

The orchestra will perform a varied and engaging program. Based on Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s tragedy, Beethoven’s orchestrations for his Coriolan Overture cover themes of war, love and family and showcase his creativity.

Muti announced his retirement at the close of this season, making this concert, an extra special occasion Blakeman said. Muti’s leadership has been distinguished with the strength of his artistic partnership with the Orchestra; his dedication to performing great works of the past and present, including 13 world premieres to date; the enthusiastic reception he and the CSO have received on national and international tours and eight recordings on the CSO Resound label, with three Grammy awards among them. In addition, his contributions to the cultural life of Chicago.

“ I will probably never get to see him performing again,” Blakeman said. “This is a unique opportunity.” The concert is sold out but it will be broadcast to the outdoor plaza located on the west side of the building and inside the McKnight Center Recital Hall.

The McKnight Center will offer a free master- class from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. where the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Horn, David Cooper, will help people expand their musical knowledge. It is an opportunity for the Chicago Symphony to coach OSU music students on how to perform and improve their abilities.

Blakeman said the McKnight Center will continue to look for great opportunities to bring incredible performers like the Chicago Symphony to Stillwater.

“ Our mission is to positively impact and transform the lives of individuals through the highest quality of art possible,” Blakeman said. “It feels good after a successful event to know that we are doing our job to serve our mission.”

Sued...

Continued from 5A that is supposed to help freshmen students make friends.

Alisson Carcaamo, a freshman majoring in psychology, is a member of the group chat that criticized Spenelli.

“I feel like that group chat opens your eyes when it comes to free speech and what limits you should take,” Carcaamo said.

Spenelli said he was surprised with the lawsuit against OSU, as well as his experiences with his peers. Because Oklahoma is a Republican state, Spenelli said the amount of OSU staff and administration with liberal views surprised him, and he did not expect his conservative views to be met with such judgment.

“That was one thing that shocked me,” Spenelli said. “I definitely have started being more careful about what I have to say.” news.ed@ocolly.com

Spenelli said OSU is violating students’ First Amendment rights when it punishes students for their views. He said liberals and conservatives contribute to students practicing self-censorship out of fear of being ridiculed, and opinions should be shared freely at college, given that they are ethical.

Trammell and Spenelli said punishing students for their views results in self-censorship, and in turn, restricts students’ ability to express themselves and their values to their classmates and professors.

The First Amendment is a right, not a privilege.

Before the crowd packing Gal-

lagher-Iba Arena erupted in an almost unceasing cascade of noise, it quieted.

A few minutes before the Oklahoma State men’s basketball team tipped off against then-Big 12 rival Missouri on Feb. 5, 2001, everything stopped. There was a moment of silence for people to remember the victims of a tragedy.

A tragedy that devastated families and a team and a university and its people. A tragedy that stunned a nation and drew condolences from near and far, from friends and strangers and even foes.