An upcoming event will celebrate the formation of the Waupaca Area Orchestra.
The Founder’s Gala will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at the Gerold Opera House in downtown Weyauwega.
Tickets are $50 and may be purchased online at www.wegaarts.org and at The Coffee Klatsch in Weyauwega and the Book Cellar in Waupaca.
While tickets will be available at the door, those organizing the gala said they would appreciate if people purchased them in advance.
That is because the price of the ticket includes complementary hors d’ oeuvres, desserts, wine and Central Waters Brewery beer. A cash bar will be available for mixed drinks.
A string quartet will play for the first part of the evening, with a jazz trio toward the end of the night. Local artists are contributing their artwork for a silent auction that will be held on the night of the gala.
Kathy Fehl said the Founder’s Gala will give people a taste of things to come.
“The Waupaca Area Orchestra will be in residence at the Gerold,” she said.
Fehl is the artistic director of Wega Arts, the non-profit organization that owns, operates and maintains the historic opera house.
Emily Sipiorski is forming the new orchestra.
A native of Stevens Point, her undergraduate degree in music performance is from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She did graduate work in performance and pedagogy at UW-Milwaukee.
She teaches private violin lessons in Waupaca and Stevens Point.
“We’re looking at two major concerts each season with a full orchestra,” she said.
Sipiorski continues to work on putting the personnel together for the Waupaca Area Orchestra.
“We have musicians from Waupaca, Iola, Stevens Point, the Fox Valley,” she said.
The orchestra’s first concert is planned for late November or early December.
“We received a grant from the Waupaca Area Community Foundation for the first concert,” Sipiorski said. “The conductor is coming from Florida. We have a soloist coming for the first concert who is from the Sacramento Symphony.”
Sipiorski has played with a number of orchestras. Prior to moving to Waupaca with her husband Justin and their two children, she worked as a freelance violinist.
She also plans to do educational outreach with local schools and to offer marathon classes and workshops at the opera house.
“From the point of view of Wega Arts, we are very happy about this,” Fehl said of the formation of the orchestra. “It complements our mission to brings artists to the area.”
Fehl also said that some of the work of Sipiorski’s husband Justin will be featured in an upcoming exhibit at Wega Art Gallery.
He teaches biology at UW-Stevens Point. His illustrations of fish appeared in the most recent edition of the Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes.
The Wega Art Gallery, which is located next to the opera house, plans to feature some of his illustrations in an exhibit.