Walla Walla Symphony raises curtain on new season, new director and new sounds

On Tuesday, the Walla Walla Symphony will raise the curtain on a new season and a new director. 

Dina Gilbert, the symphony’s new music director and conductor, is young and female — two things many conductors are not. And she wants to show people how creative and unstuffy the symphony can be. 

“Music is really for everyone,” she said. “And you don’t necessarily need to know about it to like it. You just need to be there receiving it. And it might change something in your body.”

Gilbert, who resides mainly in Montreal, said she’s already been having many conversations around Walla Walla and encouraging newcomers to the symphony. She’s driven by the moments when audience members tell her that a concert was so different than what they had expected. 

“Being a music director is so much more than being on the podium and waving your arms,” Gilbert said. “It’s more like being a master chef in a big restaurant, in which you can choose and select different ingredients.”

Gilbert is doing her best to choose ingredients that will appeal to a broad range of people. Some surprising sights and sounds this season will include stomping, vocals and a tabla, a type of Indian drum. “I kind of want to break the wall in between what is on stage and what the audience is experiencing,” Gilbert said. 

This season’s theme, “Roots and Horizons,” is a nod to Gilbert’s selection of pieces from well-known composers — the roots — as well as lesser-known, living composers — the horizons. 

On opening night, three of the evening’s composers will even be in attendance. One is Sam Wu, a visiting professor at Whitman College who wrote the piece “Hydrosphere.” The other two are students who participated in the symphony’s free program for young composers. 

Beatrice Luongo, a fifth grader at Edison Elementary School — and daughter of Paul Luongo, the former director of the Walla Walla Symphony Youth Orchestra — will premiere a piece called “Horses.” Teresa Wheeler, a junior at Walla Walla High School and a veteran of the composition course, will premiere “The Serpent’s Delight.”

Many of this season’s pieces also pay homage to Walla Walla’s lands and waters. 

“My goals are really to connect with everybody in the community,” Gilbert said. “I want them to feel that this orchestra, the Walla Walla Symphony, is their orchestra.” 

Tickets to the symphony’s shows range from $19 to $35 for adults, with discounted pricing for students and children.