Tulsa Symphony Orchestra: 20th Anniversary Concert with Emanuel Ax
Tulsa Performing Arts Center
October 4, 2025
Last Saturday evening’s concert by the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra—a festive celebration of its 20th anniversary season—started a little differently than usual, with two communal moments that bonded the audience with the musicians before a single note was played.
First, TSO Executive Director Ron Predl welcomed us and asked us to acknowledge longtime Tulsa World arts writer James Watts, who was in the audience. The musicians and the crowd rose as one to thank this pillar of the Tulsa arts scene, whose recent termination by the corporate owner of the World is a true loss for our community.
Then Predl announced that the evening would start with a group-sing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” I was surprised, because classical music concerts don’t usually go there. It’s not a sporting event or a town hall meeting. Besides, I’m a little soured on the whole patriotism/singing/pledging thing lately, what with ICE and banned books and the rise of fascism and whatnot.
But when the evening’s conductor—internationally acclaimed Colombian-American Maestro Lina González-Granados—bounded onstage to enthusiastic applause, and the orchestra rose to their feet with us to play, something softened in my bitter old heart: an immigrant was leading us in our national anthem. With her excellence, her spirit, and her bravery, and her immense talent, she showed us who we are at our best—a country whose heart is big enough both to care for its own and to welcome outsiders, if we’ll only choose to do so. She reminded me of something I forget, these days, that America is bigger than our current shitshow.
Having had my world rocked before the concert proper even started, I sniffled and sat down, ready for some good music. And boy, did I get some. This concert was, in a word, terrific.
Shostakovich’s Festive Overture was the perfect way to open this milestone anniversary season. The brass was absolutely on point in its precision and flare, and the brief piece conveyed the excitement of new beginnings, new possibilities. It was my first time to see Maestro González-Granados conducting; her athletic posture and graceful hands gave the musicians every command they needed.
Next came Beethoven’s Third Piano concerto, featuring the venerable Emanuel Ax, 76 years old and still a delight. I’d never seen Ax in concert, either, though I’ve listened to him my whole life, from my vinyl days to Spotify. His Beethoven was clean, clear, and moving. The man can make the piano sing, both technically and emotionally. At one point, near the end of the first movement’s cadenza, his descending trills sounded like bees hovering over a flower before they landed on the 6/4 chord. The moment made me tear up, which I may have done again during the poignant second movement, its sweetness almost unbearable.