Roger Kalia is shown conducting one of the three orchestras that he leads.
Photo provided
Roger Kalia’s last Columbus concert was a salute to pops-oriented pieces in 2014. His return-to-Columbus concert Friday will be a salute to military veterans and other service members.
He feels sure that emotion will swell with the music at the Bartholomew County Memorial For Veterans downtown.
“Columbus always will hold a special place in my heart,” said Kalia, speaking by phone from Evansville, where he serves as music director of the Evansville Philharmonic. “It marked my first job as a real orchestral conductor. So coming back to town is special.
“This will be kind of like a reunion.”
Kalia, 38, the former music director of the mostly volunteer Columbus Symphony Orchestra from 2010 to 2014, will lead the professional Columbus Indiana Philharmonic in its free, annual SALUTE! performance amid an expected crowd of several thousand. Though the orchestras have shared a handful of the same musicians for a couple decades, Kalia will be the first person in the 36-year history of both ensembles existing simultaneously to lead each group.
Wife Christine Wisch also played violin with the local symphony for several seasons.
And Kalia is hoping that some members from the symphony and the Columbus City Band can join the Philharmonic for its traditional grand finale “The 1812 Overture.” Yet, that number will be presented for the first time in years without the orchestra’s obligatory loudest percussive instruments: the U.S. Army National Guard’s gleaming 105mm howitzers, normally adding an explosive exclamation point to the piece.
When Kalia first became associate conductor of the Pacific Coast Symphony, one of his first duties was to man the Walkie Talkie to alert that ensemble’s howitzer firers when to make the classic overture a blast.
In keeping with tradition on Friday, the maestro is making the armed forces theme songs an early centerpiece.
“I know that’s so moving for everyone, and not just the military members,” said Kalia, whose grandfather served in the U.S. Navy. “That sometimes hits me really hard.”
Kalia also has put together a program that includes works beyond the patriotic, including Broadway tunes. Indiana University tenor vocalist Jonathan Elmore will sing two pieces: “On the Street Where You Live” from “My Fair Lady” and a song that seems especially appropriate for a military gathering, “Bring Him Home” from “Les Miserables.”
“It connects very much with war,” Kalia said. “The context, I think, will amplify the song’s normal emotion. And this is a stunning arrangement.”
Also on the program is John Williams’ theme music from “Jurassic Park” and the patriotic “Liberty Fanfare,” often featured during the Olympics. Local broadcaster John Foster will narrate Abraham Lincoln’s words from speeches and letters during the performance of Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.”
Kalia is a conductor who has seen his share of variety. For instance, with the Pacific Coast Symphony, he even led one concert that included pop-rock group the B-52s of “Love Shack” fame.
“That was really a cool concert,” he said. “I have loved working with those types of groups. It’s so much fun.”
Clearly, he has mastered a much larger catalog these days compared to his time with the local ensemble.
“The amount of repertoire that I now conduct has greatly expanded” since his last Columbus performance, he said. “And I’m becoming much more adept at removing that invisible barrier between the stage and the audience and having the audience directly be a part of the concert experience.”
About the concert
Who: The Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, led by guest conductor Roger Kalia, presenting its annual SALUTE! concert.
When: 7 p.m. Friday.
Where: Bartholomew County Memorial for Veterans on Second Street in downtown Columbus.
Seating: Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets.
Admission: Free.
Information: thecip.org
