PROGRESS: Sioux City Symphony reports increased ticket sales

"Last year, we were big on single-ticket sales, a massive jump from years past, and this year we've already beaten last year's total, and we have one concert left," said Travis Morgan, the Symphony's CEO. "So that should give you an idea where we're at." 

He said the 2017-18 season saw ticket sales 42 percent higher than the previous season, adding, "And we're surpassing that this year." 

The season finale, "A Space Odyssey," will be staged April 6. Composer and DJ Mason Bates, Musical America’s 2017 Composer of the Year, will be joined by mezzo Sasha Cooke for the performance. The performance will feature a reading of Walt Whitman and audio from John F. Kennedy's "Moonshot" speech. Cooke is a Grammy Award winner, while Bates is a Grammy nominee. 

"You'll have Sasha singing, you'll have our orchestra playing, and then you'll have John F. Kennedy talking about going to the moon," Morgan said. "And it's in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. And it will be an absolute, just a trip back in time." 

There will be a fundraiser gala before the show at the Woodbury County Courthouse, with proceeds going to music education and Symphony programming. 

Morgan could not yet reveal the shows of the upcoming 104th season at press time, but he was able to drop a number of hints. 

Another "blockbuster film" will be set to Symphony music in the coming season, Morgan said, after the success of the Symphony's production of "Star Wars: A New Hope" last fall. 

"It'll be geared towards the kids, around the Halloween time," Morgan said. "Everybody knows what (the movie) is. 98 percent of the people out there have seen this movie." 

There will be a Christmas show, like every year, but Morgan said it will be mixed up to give it a "swing feel" and more "pep." 

One of the performances will feature "one of the most controversial pieces of music ever created on the classical level," Morgan said, though he couldn't divulge which piece. 

An "iconic rock artist" will play with the Symphony at some point in the season as well. 

The Symphony's music-on-film performances have proven popular, Morgan said, and have helped to draw a whole new category of Symphony fans: regular people. 

"This is a way to bring that kind of clientele in," he said. "We brought in thousands of people (for "Star Wars"), both nights, and what you're doing when you bring those people into the seats is you're letting them be a part of something that normally they wouldn't be a part of."