Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra is turning its attention to the West with the next installment of its "Symphonic Echoes" season.
"Echoes of the West," though, will be unlike any concert the ensemble has ever performed, longtime Music Director Linus Lerner said.
"This is truly, literally kind of a movie idea with Western music," Lerner said, with the themes from the Western films "Silverado" (1985) and "The Magnificent Seven" (2016) bookending the concert's centerpiece, "The Rose of Sonora."
SASO will perform the concert Saturday, Jan. 31, in SaddleBrooke and Sunday, Feb. 1, at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church.
Composer George Clinton, whose credits include movie scores for "Austin Powers" films, "The Santa Clause 2," "Big Momma's House 2" and "Tooth Fairy," composed "The Rose of Sonora" in 2019 for violinist Holly Mulcahy.
In program notes, Clinton said Mulcahy had pitched the idea for a concerto in the style of an epic Western.
"I knew we were kindred spirits," said Clinton, adding that as a film composer, "it is important to me that the music tell a story."
"The Rose of Sonora" unfolds over five scenes, each opening with narration by Clinton telling the ill-fated love story of outlaws Rose and Jed running from the law in 1893 Arizona territory.
Composer George Clinton works with violinist Holly Mulcahy on "The Rose of Sonora." The five-scene concerto plays like a Wild West movie with a twist: the outlaw is a woman.
Clinton based Rose's character on his research into women of the Wild West. He said he wanted to create a female heroine "as an antidote to all the male-dominated Westerns out there."
"When George shared his idea of a story arc about a Wild West outlaw woman compiled from real outlaw women, I knew we had something unique and very much needed," Mulcahy said in program notes. "Not only was it a story that captivates, it gave me what was missing from just about every Western movie I’ve watched: A strong female lead."
Lerner said the movie-themed concert is "really different than SASO is used to doing," although "The Rose of Sonora" is a perfect fit for Tucson.
"It's the story about the desert here and it's the first time it's going to be performed here," Lerner said.
Chattanooga Symphony from Clinton's Tennessee hometown performed the premiere of "The Rose of Sonora" in 2019. Since then, it has been performed by nearly two dozen orchestras, including the Flagstaff Symphony in 2023.
Violinist Holly Mulcahy will solo with Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra on a Western-themed piece composed for her.
Lerner also included Copland's "Four Dance Episodes" from his ballet "Rodeo" in "Echoes of the West."
Saturday's concert begins at 7 p.m. at DesertView Performing Arts Center, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive; Tickets are $35 through dvpac.net. Tickets for Sunday's 3 p.m. concert at St. Andrew's, 7575 N. Paseo del Norte, are $28 through sasomusic.org.
