Everybody knows the Fort Wayne Philharmonic as the monumental orchestra where well upwards of 65 musicians perform major classical symphonies and concertos with international solo stars in Auer Performance Hall at Purdue University Fort Wayne. That’s the Masterworks series. 

While the orchestra is more than the sum of its parts, the parts make interesting music, too.

The Phil is launching their Chamber Orchestra series, which they call The Sound of Innovation, three concerts with a different class of music that calls for 30 or 40 musicians. This year they are in a new space at Electric Works, where tickets come with “tasting boxes” of food and drink from the Union Street Market.

Then there’s the most intimate musical experience, the Freimann series, where you can sit up close in a small hall and hear groups of three, four, or five musicians play. It’s called “chamber music,” a whole other dimension of “classical.” Each of the four Freimann concerts will be given twice: a Wednesday evening show at The History Center downtown and on a Sunday afternoon at the Rhinehart Recital Hall at PFW.

The man with the knowledge

Explaining all this is complicated, as the Philharmonic lists 45 performances in Fort Wayne on the calendar in this season, October through May. Each series, Masterworks, Pops, Family, Youth Orchestras, Chamber Orchestra, and Freimann, run in parallel.

One musician who is on top of all this is principal bass player Adrian Mann, the orchestra’s librarian since 1973. This is the orchestra’s 80th season, and his 51st, so nobody is more Philharmonic than Mann. He is also an accomplished arranger and composer.

“The constant remark that we get from audience members is, ‘I really enjoy being up close and personal and watching the musicians’ interaction,’ ” Mann said about the Freimann series. “And the fact that there’s no conductor means that each of the musicians is responsible for making it work.

“In The History Center, half of it is the charm of the building. It’s a very old building. It’s got all the history of Fort Wayne in it. And it’s more like playing in somebody’s living room. It’s in the middle of the city and it’s got big tall windows where you can see traffic going on and people going by.”

In contrast is the modern Rhinehart at PFW, built in 2007, and designed for chamber music. It’s adjacent to Auer Performance Hall where the orchestra performs.

Chamber Orchestra Series

The Chamber Orchestra series begins Saturday, Oct. 21, at Electric Works. Young conductor Alex Lee leads the orchestra in passionate short pieces by Satie, Brahms, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Morton Gould, and contemporary composer Jessie Montgomery. Cellist Andre Gaskins is featured.

On Dec. 22 at the Auer at PFW, as part of the Chamber Orchestra series, they present the timeless Messiah by Handel, with conductor Benjamin Rivera, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Chorus, and soloists.

On Feb. 10, conductor Troy Webdell presents short pieces by Holst, Bizet, Shostakovich, Purcell, Schubert, and Respighi — music spanning 300 years.

The final Sound of Innovation concert is March 16, conducted by Benjamin Rivera. It opens with Fauré’s Pavane, Op. 50. Next is Mozart’s Concerto for Horn, K. 495, featuring the Philharmonic’s new French horn player Kimberlee Hebdon. Composer William Grant Still’s energetic Danzas de Panama is featured, along with several of Brahms’ lively Liebeslieder Waltzes and Hungarian Dances, which were originally written for piano and later orchestrated.

Freimann series

This year’s Freimann series theme is Brahms and The Romantic Spirit. 

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) is one of the greatest figures in Western music. His works spanned the Romantic era, while he influenced his contemporaries and composers who came after. The four concerts feature earlier music that influenced him, pieces by Brahms himself, and music by 20th-century “neo-romantic” composers continuing in Brahms’ footsteps. 

The Freimann series begins Wednesday, Oct. 25, with a concert featuring Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet, Op. 47, Samuel Barber’s wind quintet Summer Music, and Dvořák’s piece for two violins and viola, Op. 74.

The next concert is Exotic Discoveries, Jan. 24 and 28. It begins with Mann’s piece MuroLibes, which he wrote for and will perform with Philharmonic musicians Alexandra Tsilibes on violin and Akira Murotani on trumpet. Next up is Alvin Etler’s Sonata for Bassoon and Piano, and Brahms’ student Ethel Smyth’s String Quintet, Op. 1.

The Freimann series continues Feb. 28 and March 3 with Beethoven’s last string quartet, Op. 135. It begins with Four Outings for Brass by André Previn, who passed away in 2019, and Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio, Op. 17.

The last Freimann concert is the flagship, Brahms and The Romantic Spirit, May 8 and May 12. It begins with Beethoven’s Wind Sextet, Op. 71. Beethoven died before Brahms was born, but Brahms built his music on Beethoven’s foundation. Then out of nowhere comes Rising for flute and string quartet, by contemporary American composer Joan Tower, who turned 85 this year. It’s capped by Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 3, Op. 60, with violin, viola and cello, which he wrote in 1875.

I hope you’ll check out the Chamber Orchestra and Freimann series and enjoy the “other side” of the Philharmonic’s classical music. 

And we haven’t even written about their upcoming Pops concerts, which will include a holiday movie, the Holiday Pops, New Orleans jazz, and Frank Sinatra.