Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra announces Fourth of July Concert

Music Director Miguel Harth-Bedoya and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra have announced the appointment of three new musicians in the trombone, horn, and viola sections.

Joseph Dubas is the newly-appointed Principal Trombone. Two one-year appointments were also awarded to Nikolette LaBonte, Principal Horn, and Anna Kolotylina, Principal Viola, the symphony said in a news release.

Dubas joined the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as Principal Trombone in 2019. Prior to his appointment in the FWSO, he held positions in the Richmond Symphony and Sarasota Orchestra.

He studied at Northwestern University where he was a student of Michael Mulcahy, Timothy Higgins, Randall Hawes, R. Douglas Wright and Christopher Davis.

Joseph has been a fellow at the Pacific Music Festival and the Music Academy of West, where he was a finalist in the 2018 Concerto Competition. In 2017, he won the International Trombone Association Lewis Van Haney Prize.

Ukrainian violist Anna Kolotylina began playing violin at the age of 5. While in school, she performed as a soloist with a Lutsk Philharmonic Orchestra and was part of famous Ukrainian ensemble “Volyniany” which maintains a robust touring schedule throughout the Slovak Republic, Poland, Austria, Luxemburg, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

In 1999 and 2001 Kolotylina won a First Prize and Grand Prix at the Regional Competition in Lutsk and participated in the Kiev National Competition receiving the prestigious “New Name in Ukraine” award.

LaBonte, a native of South Florida, is currently serving as the principal horn of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. She joined the FWSO in 2019 and is currently on leave from her position as Associate/Assistant/Utility Horn of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra where she has served since 2016.

In addition to the FWSO and RPO, LaBonte has held positions with the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and Oahu Choral Society and has had had the opportunity to perform with orchestras across the country including the New York Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, New World Symphony, and Syracuse-based Symphoria.

As an ode to the country’s perseverance throughout the past year, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra has announced it will host a special, socially distanced America Strong concert at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on July 4, 2021.

The one-night-only performance will feature more than 60 minutes of music from the orchestra and world-renowned opera singers, all conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya.

“As the chairman of the FWSO board, I am so proud of how this organization has continued to perform live during this pandemic,” said Mercedes T. Bass, symphony board chair. “The gift of live music continues to provide a healing power to communities during some of the most trying times.

“The America Strong 2021 concert will feature leading composers and opera singers who represent the very fabric of our country and join the orchestra in performing for a live, socially distanced audience. This is our gift to the Fort Worth community and beyond for showing such resilience over the past year of this pandemic. We invite all of you to join us at Dickies Arena on July 4 for this celebratory concert,” Bass said “The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra is delighted to be presenting and broadcasting our Fourth of July America Strong 2021 concert from Dickies Arena again this year after a record-setting broadcast in 2020,” said Keith Cerny, Ph.D., president and CEO of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

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“We are particularly pleased to welcome Morris Robinson and Latonia Moore to Fort Worth. I’ve worked with these extraordinary singers in the past and am thrilled to bring them into the Fort Worth community for a concert celebrating the strength of our great country,” Cerny said.

The America Strong concert will feature prominent composers and musicians from across the globe.

Beginning with John Stafford Smith’s “Star Spangled Banner,” patrons will be surrounded by a united spirit of patriotism and passion before moving to the brilliant “Lightspeed – Fanfare for Orchestra” by Texas Christian University’s own up-and-coming composer Kevin Day. While the rest of the program will remain under wraps until the day of the show, the orchestra says it has crafted a lineup to bring together a diverse range of music, performers and composers.

Latonia Moore, Texas-raised Metropolitan Opera star soprano, and Morris Robinson, world-renowned opera bass and former All-American college football player, will join the orchestra for the America Strong concert to bring the world of opera into the symphonic performance. Both Moore and Robinson have performed with the Metropolitan Opera and are highly respected within the classical music industry.

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Works by leading Black and Latin American composers, including Kevin Day, Adolphus Hailstork, and Jimmy Lopez, will be featured on this program to create space for composers of color in America’s patriotic repertoire.

The concert will be broadcast live by WFAA on Channel 8 on July 4, 2021 For those wanting to attend the event in person, tickets will be available to the public beginning at 10:00 a.m. CT on April 26, 2021. All patrons will have to purchase tickets through Ticketmaster in pods of two, three or four seats, and pricing begins at $29.30 per person.

To reserve your seat beginning April 26: https://www.ticketmaster.com The orchestra will implement the same guidelines it has enforced throughout its 2020-2021 season for the America Strong concert. Patrons will be required to wear masks throughout the performance, social distancing protocols will be enforced, and tickets will only be available on mobile devices.