Premieres and Finales
April 22, 2023
Buy Tickets in Person
WFSO Administrative Offices
1300 Lamar Street
Wichita Falls, TX 76301
Carmina Burana
Dai Wei: The Dancing Moonlight
Fakhouri: Trance (World Premiere)
Orff: Carmina Burana (MSU Choir + Community Choir)
The WFSO concludes its 75th Anniversary Season with Carl Orff’s colossal work: Carmina Burana. For this memorable performance the stage at Memorial Auditorium will be full with a large orchestra, a massive choir (which includes a children’s choir) as well as vocal soloists.
This concert will also feature a world premiere by Maestro Fakhouri written to commemorate the WFSO’s 75th Anniversary Season.
Details
Time: 7:30pm
Fouad Fakhouri
Lauded for his “musical accuracy” and “emotional intensity,” Fouad Fakhouri has earned a reputation for his dynamic artistry behind the podium. Fakhouri goes beyond the score to capture both the essence and spirit of the music, delivering powerful interpretations and inspired symphonic performances.
Fakhouri currently serves as Music Director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra in Michigan and the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra in Texas. From 2004-2016, he served as Music Director and Conductor of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina. Previous appointments also include Principal Guest Conductor of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and Music Director and Conductor of the Greensboro Symphony Youth Orchestra in North Carolina. Internationally, Fakhouri is a regular guest conductor of the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra. Additionally, throughout his career, he has been honorably selected to participate in and present numerous workshops, masterclasses, and lectures and has partnered and worked with members of such venerable institutions as the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Recognized for eliciting exceptional musicianship, Fakhouri is consistently praised for his ability to “elevate the artistic performance level of orchestras he conducts.” Combined with an innate ability to share his enthusiasm for music on and off the podium, orchestras under his baton regularly see significant increases in audience attendance and arts engagement in the cities and communities he serves. Fakhouri passionately pursues collaborations with diverse venues and arts organizations and has helped develop and implement several innovative concert series, education programs, and performing opportunities for musicians and young artists.
In December 2014, in recognition of Fakhouri’s “impressive career achievements, phenomenal leadership of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, and dedication to music and the community,” Methodist University in North Carolina bestowed upon him an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. In March 2016, Fakhouri was inducted into the Fayetteville Music Hall of Fame, and in April 2016, upon the completion of his tenure with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, individual community donors honored him with establishing “The Fouad K. Fakhouri Endowment for Artistic Excellence” – a $1.1 million fund. In April 2017, he was also awarded the “2017 Arts and Architecture Alumni Award” from the School of Music at his alma mater, Penn State University.
In addition to conducting, Fakhouri is an active composer of a multitude of symphonic, chamber, choral, and solo music. Several of his works have been premiered and performed throughout the US, Europe, and the Middle East by such ensembles as the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra in the UK, the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra, and the Mediterranean Orchestra in Italy.
Fakhouri hails from a musical family whose roots go back four generations. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of North Texas, and a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting, as well as a Master of Music in Composition/Theory from Pennsylvania State University.
Fakhouri resides in Manhattan with his wife – a public relations executive – and daughter.
Megan Warburton
Soprano Megan Warburton is captivating audiences with her dazzling high notes and energetic storytelling. This past season she sang Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte and La Feé in Cendrillon at the University of Michigan. She was a Young Artist with Opera Saratoga, covering Johanna in Sweeney Todd, a soloist in opera and musical theatre recital performances, and ensemble in Sweeney Todd and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. She will sing the role of Sophie in Werther this spring at the University of Michigan. Previous highlights include Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Second Woman in Dido and Aeneas, and Emily in Help, Help, the Globolinks! Ms. Warburton was a soloist for several festivals and concerts, including Celebración de las Naciones in Guayaquil, Ecuador and the Year of the Woman Concert with the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra in Utah. A native of the Rocky Mountains, Ms. Warburton grew up hiking and exploring the national parks of Utah, cultivating a rich love of adventure and beauty in nature.
Patrick Muehleise
Praised for his “real musicality and finely executed coloratura,” Patrick Muehleise is an acclaimed American tenor specializing in a wide variety of concert soloist repertoire and known for his “beautiful, evenly produced lyric tenor” and “pure tone.” Recent engagements include Bach’s BWV 106 with Aspen Festival Orchestra under the baton of Robert Spano, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in Chicago’s Symphony Hall with the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Coffee Cantata & St. Matthew Passion with Seraphic Fire, Bach’s B Minor Mass with Back Bay Chorale of Boston & Bach Akademie Charlotte, Mozart’s Requiem with Xian Zhang at the Aspen Music Festival, Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 under the baton of Jane Glover, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Elmhurst Symphony & Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Handel’s Messiah with Winston-Salem Symphony, Reich’s The Desert Music with New World Symphony, Orff’s Carmina Burana with Long Beach Camerata and Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle with the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, and the role of Pan in the fully-staged period performance of Cavalli’s La Calisto with Haymarket Opera Company of Chicago.
In addition to his work as a concert soloist, Patrick is a regular member of Grammy-nominated and award winning ensembles such as Seraphic Fire, True Concord, Chicago Symphony Chorus, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Grant Park Symphony Chorus, and has taken the stage with Aspen Chamber Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, and The Cleveland Orchestra.
A passionate educator, Patrick has served as artist-in-residence for multiple years at UCLA and Aspen Music Festival and has led masterclasses at countless universities.
When he’s not singing or teaching, Mr Muehleise gives back to nonprofit organizations by working to build community partnerships and enhance fundraising efforts. Mr. Muehleise was named the 2019 tenor recipient of The American Prize Chicago Oratorio Award and in 2016 he was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Choral Performance category for his collaboration on True Concord’s album
“Far In The Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus” which won the award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. An active member of the American Guild of Musical Artists and National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Patrick can be heard on seven nationally released recordings with Grammy-nominated and award-winning ensembles.
Ron Loyd
Recognized by The New York Times as a “robust baritone” and “agile comedian” and by The Sondheim Review for his “opulent baritone and nuanced phrasing,” notable performances for baritone Ron Loyd include his Carnegie Hall debut with the American Symphony Orchestra in Richard Strauss’ Feuersnot under the baton of Leon Botstein, the title roles of Rigoletto, Macbeth, Sweeney Todd, and Mozart’s Figaro, and premiere performances of new American operas Prince of Players by Carlisle Floyd (NY premiere) and A Thousand Splendid Suns by composer Sheila Silver and librettist Stephen Kitsakos based on the best-selling novel by Khaled Hosseini (Opera America’s New Works Forum).
In concert, Mr. Loyd recently performed baritone solos in Verdi’s Requiem with Cambridge Symphony Orchestra and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with Rhode Island’s Chorus of Westerly. Previous concert performances include Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with Cambridge Symphony Orchestra; Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs with Helena Symphony; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Pensacola Symphony, Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, Missouri Symphony, Ridgefield Symphony, the Chorus of Westerly, and his alma mater West Texas A&M Symphony and Chorale; and baritone soloist with The Collegiate Chorale and The American Symphony Orchestra under the baton of James Bagwell in Handel’s Israel in Egypt. Also in NYC, Mr. Loyd has appeared with The Dessoff Choirs for An Exploration of 19th to 20th Century American Works, The Choral Society and Orchestra for Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, and the Metropolitan Opera Guild for a concert of excerpts from Rossini’s Le Comte Ory. A versatile singing-actor, Ron was the subject of a 2012 feature article by The Sondheim Review that concluded “Ron Loyd has built a career on ‘and’ and not ‘or’” after examining his commitment to compelling performances in both opera and musical theatre. With over 60 roles to his credit in houses across the US, Ron’s leading operatic appearances include Germont (La Traviata), Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Tonio (Pagliacci), Ford (Falstaff), Marcello (La Bohème), and Leporello (Don Giovanni) while the roles of Sweeney Todd, Fredrik (A Little Night Music), Emile de Becque (South Pacific), Pseudolus (Forum), and Max von Mayerling (Sunset Boulevard) have highlighted Ron’s prowess in American musical theatre. Upcoming Ron will return to the little Opera Theatre of NY for American One Acts, a double bill performing the roles of Sheriff in William Grant Still’s Highway 1, U.S.A and Father in Kurt Weill’s Down in the Valley.
