Photo provided | Tim Miller
One might as well refer to conductor Isaac Selya’s baton as a magic wand Saturday at the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic’s season opener.
He’s promising a spellbinding measure of musical magnetism when the local professional ensemble launches into a program of Harry Potter movie music from John Williams, a piece from the Chrono Trigger video game, a Felix Mendelssohn piece and more.
Heavens to Hogwarts, Selya is conjuring a delicate balance of the new and the traditional in a season billed as “Encore.”
“We’re trying to build a broader audience,” Selya said. “Yet, we’re also sensitive to stalwart supporters who have been with us for such a long time. So, we want to make sure we’re still careful to present the music that they want to listen to.
“But yes, we are still experimenting.”
Last year’s season opener, which marked Selya’s local debut, featured music from “The Legend of Zelda” video game and attracted more than 800 people in a 1,000-seat venue, among the orchestra’s larger crowds. It also included what the organization saw as a greater number of younger ticket buyers — significant in an orchestral world with a continually graying audience.
“We may not be getting quite there (to those numbers),” said Philharmonic executive director Donnie Robinette. “… But we know that nearly everybody knows Harry Potter (music).”
More than 500 tickets had been sold by late last week.
Selya regularly converses with a range of concert ticket buyers. And he mentioned that the general feedback seems to be that they’re open to music beyond the standard symphonic fare of yesteryear. He pointed out that he remains quite selective of more modern music to present.
“Others have said that if Mozart and Beethoven were alive today, they’d probably be composing music for video games,” he said. “And I think that people seem to certainly be willing to hear a modern iteration of excellent music in the classical tradition.”
He added that that idea includes both Williams’ Harry Potter music and the video game piece, “Secret of the Forest” from Yasunori Mitsuda.
Selya will bring considerable energy to this concert. A longtime runner known for his hyper-kinetic ways, he will run the Mill Race Half-Marathon Saturday morning — and swears he’ll be pumped and refreshed by the evening, when he aims for whimsical wizardry to take over.
“At this performance,” he said, “I really do want the audience to have a magical experience.
“I believe that music can do this incredible thing,” he said, “where it transports you to a fantastic realm that might not necessarily exist in reality, but it presents you with a different place or a different story or even a different universe.
“I believe that all this music on this program does that.”
All with a wave of his magic wand.
About the concert
Who: Columbus Indiana Philharmonic presenting its season opener “Spellcraft.”
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Judson Erne Auditorium, 1400 25th St. in Columbus.
Information and tickets: thecip.org.
