By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
A unique show kicks off the new St. Joseph Symphony season this weekend at the historic Missouri Theatre.
Frank Oden's Cowboy Jamboree will be the first show of the season with a goal of designing symphony shows more accessible to the general public.
"We have this idea of a symphony concert being kind of a stuffy old thing where people go sit straight up in their chairs wearing tuxedos and listen to classical music," Oden jokes with KFEQ Hotline host Barry Birr. "And there's nothing wrong with that, there's a lot of people who really enjoy that."
Oden says in order to change that perception, he used his skills as a writer and actor to design the show
"I've been creating symphony shows that bring theatrical production values, humor, and action and character and storyline to the performance," Oden explains.
Oden says the show is designed by starting with a collection of music, this show focused on music of the American West and Hollywood type of American west, with music from John Williams and songs like Ghost Riders in the Sky.
Oden says the show is unique with the person setting up the pieces of music not just telling you about the history of the piece, but where it came from.
"The idea is to create a story that includes music, and it's set up to feature the music, the music is part of the storytelling, but we don't have the voice out there just to talk about the music but to create a story that holds the music," Oden says.
Oden says another rare thing about the show is that the narrative is all poetic which comes from his background as a cowboy poet.