NATCHITOCHES – The Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra will celebrate its 60th season with five concerts, as a part of the annual Christmas Gala and collaborating with Northwestern Theatre and Dance during its 2025-26 concert season. The theme for the orchestra’s season will be “NSU Symphony Diamond Jubilee: Celebrating 60 Years of Music.” and will feature the world premiere of a work, a patriotic concert, winners of the NSU Concerto Competition and a performance with the NSU Symphony Chorus. Dr. Douglas Bakenhus is musical director of the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra.
Support for the orchestra is provided through the Friends of the Symphony. Season ticket packages start at $50 for an individual. Those 65 and older can buy two season tickets for $50. Support at the Patron level is $100 for three season tickets and $250 for four season tickets at the Benefactor level. A Gold Underwriter package is available for $500 which includes four season tickets and a one-eighth page ad in the concert program. For $1,000, Platinum Underwriters receive six season tickets, and a one-quarter page program ad.
Tickets can be purchased by mail at Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Society, 107 South Drive, PMB No. 113, Natchitoches, LA 71457 or online at https://nnssla.org/. There is an added charge for buying tickets online. For more information, email NSUsymphony@gmail.com.
Symphony concerts will be held in Magale Recital Hall and begin at 7:30 p.m.
The Diamond Jubilee season will open on Tuesday, Sept. 23 with a concert titled “Adoration of Mother Nature and the Ascending Strength of the Earth.” The concert will feature a world premiere of American composer Dosia McKay’s “Earthrise.” Also on the program are compositions by Beethoven and Telemann.
The patriotic concert, “American Strength: We Shall Overcome,” will be on Tuesday, Oct. 28 and will include some of the most loved American favorites such as “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful.” The orchestra will honor our troops with “Armed Forces Salute.”
The Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony will be part of the 37th Annual Christmas Gala on Dec. 3-5 in the A.A. Fredericks Auditorium. More than 300 Northwestern State students, faculty and staff in the School of Creative and Performing Arts combine their talents to present the Gala as a kickoff to the Natchitoches Christmas Festival. Large crowds attend the Gala each year which is based on the long-running Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular.
On Tuesday, Feb. 10, a chamber orchestra concert will feature NSU Professor of Percussion Dr. Oliver Molina along with music by Dvorak and Haydn.
Winners of the annual NSU Concerto Competition will perform during the Tuesday March 24 concert which will also include pieces by Ravel and Colombian composer Victoriano Valencia.
On April 23-25, the orchestra will perform with NSU Theatre and Dance in the musical “She Loves Me” in the A.A. Fredericks Auditorium. NSU Director of Musical Theatre Dr. Sloane Artis will direct the play which is from a book by Joe Masteroff that inspired the films “The Shop Around the Corner” and “You’ve Got Mail.”
The final concert of the season on April 28 will feature the orchestra and the Cane River Singers on parts 2 and 3 of Handel’s “Messiah.”
