From Maria Larionoff, Artistic Director
Dear friends,
The MUSIC of COLLABORATION is the theme of our 26 | 27 season, and it promises to be a year full of thrilling musical adventures! Our soloists this season include several Missoula favorites, including Hamilton-based violin virtuoso Tim Fain and distinguished UM faculty members Chris Hahn and Margery Whatley. In April we welcome cello superstar Nicholas Canellakis in his highly anticipated SOR debut, performing the Saint-Saens Concerto #1 and his own Roscoe Rhapsody, a work inspired by his wife Arabella. Exceptional young string talents from UM and across the state join us in February for our popular annual NextGen concert, and we also expand our regular season to include a performance at the Mary Stewart Rogers Performing Arts Center in Victor this November, presented by the Regal Ensemble. Last August our free Season Preview concert brought SOR musicians to a new venue—the Cooper Room in the Missoula Public Library. We were gratified to see a lively and enthusiastic audience full of longtime SOR attendees! We also welcomed many families with young children, each of whom received a free book from the library and a special musical worksheet to take home. We hope to continue this meaningful collaboration with MPL in the future and work creatively on musical and educational projects together.
Our 26 | 27 season starts off with one more item of exciting news to share! This year we are announcing the launch of the Carol Garlington Legacy Fund, named in honor of our beloved former SOR Board member. Carol’s bequest of unrestricted funds to SOR will be used to underwrite specially curated musical projects bringing world-class musicians to perform in Missoula. We miss her and hope to honor her memory through musical excellence. More details regarding the fund will be available on our Support page and shared throughout our season.
Now—let’s make music!
Maria Larionoff
SOR Artistic Director
Dear Friends of SOR,
SOR reached a significant milestone last season. Not only did we celebrate our 40th anniversary, but our organization was selected by Arts Missoula to receive the prestigious 2025 Cultural Vision Award! We feel honored to have been given this recognition and are inspired to work hard to achieve new heights of musical excellence.
This season opens with a week-long regional tour of Montana, expanding our musical horizons to the Bitterroot Valley and traveling to Billings to launch the 75th anniversary of the illustrious Sukin Chamber Music Series. While in Billings, we will also participate in an outreach project working with local music students in the area before returning home to perform in Missoula.
We welcome three distinguished guest artists to our SOR series this season. Tippet Rise Arts Center Artistic Advisor Pedja Mužijević performs Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto–a masterpiece and favorite of pianists worldwide. Dr. Jennifer Cavanaugh, a beloved and esteemed member of the Missoula musical and academic community, joins SOR as soloist in Albinoni’s popular D minor oboe concerto–a baroque work of extraordinary beauty. Our season finale will be full of violin pyrotechnics when Stephanie Chase returns to Missoula to perform showpieces by Sarasate and Vaughan Williams, as well as a premiere of her new orchestral arrangement of de Falla’s Seven Popular Spanish Songs.
Additionally, we continue the vital work of providing mentorship and performance opportunities for exceptional music students in our Stockman Bank Master Class Series and our NextGen concert.
We appreciate and cherish each one of you who continues to support us and attend our concerts. Music is transformational–for both performers and audience members. The shared experience of the creative process powerfully affirms our vulnerability and humanity, comforts us, and enriches our lives.
Now—let’s make music!
Maria Larionoff
Artistic Director, SOR