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INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER Friday, May 29, 2026 Page A5317.843.3800THECENTERPRESENTS.ORGActivities are made possible in part by Noblesville Creates, a regional partner, Indiana Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.SEASON SPONSORSONGBOOK ACADEMY IN CONCERTSAT JUL 18 AT 7:00PMPAYNE & MENCIAS PALLADIUMART GARFUNKELWHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD CELEBRATION CONCERTSFRI JUL 24 AT 7:30PMPAYNE & MENCIAS PALLADIUMGLADYS KNIGHTSAT AUG 8 AT 7:30PMPAYNE & MENCIAS PALLADIUMPSYCHIC%u2019 COMEDIAN PETER ANTONIOUTHU SEP 10 AT 7:30PMTHE TARKINGTONBRIAN SIMPSON, JACKIEM JOYNER AND JESSY JFRI JUL 31 AT 8:00PMTHE TARKINGTONSTEWART COPELAND: HAVE I SAID TOO MUCHSUN AUG 2 AT 7:30PMTHE TARKINGTONby CHLOE McGOWAN chloegm@indyrecorder.comThe Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra (ICO) announced the lineup of its 2026-27 season, entitled %u201cStory Lines: A Soundtrack to the Past & Present.%u201d%u201cStory Lines%u201d celebrates the orchestra%u2019s 43rd year by taking audiences through a musical journey exploring the power of narrative through sound. The season features a %u2026 with each piece weaving a unique story %u2014 from %u201ctimeless tales of love and drama%u201d with %u201cShakespeare & Love%u201d with American Piano Association Winner Adam Golka, to vibrant rhythms that %u201ccapture the pulse of life,%u201d according to a press release.However, before the season even begins, the ICO is inviting Hoosiers to pack a picnic and bring a blanket to enjoy two free outdoor concerts. The ICO will play through a series of classical favorites with guest appearances by local student groups from Indianapolis Suzuki Academy and Global Prep Academy.The free outdoor concerts take place at 7 p.m. on Aug. 27 at the Taggart Memorial Amphitheater at Riverside Park and at 7 p.m. on Aug. 28 at the Ruins at Holliday Park. Throughout the rest of the 2026-2027 season, audiences will get to experience the beauty of nature and soul through pieces from Schubert and Mahler, as well as the playful energy of %u201cSteamboat Bill, Jr.%u201d (1928) brought to life with live accompaniment and %u201ca spectrum of color and emotion%u201d with a world premiere. Rounding out the season, the ICO will blend orchestral artistry with modern, contemporary flair as they welcome singer-songwriter Ben Folds.2026-2027 Season at a glanceRiverside & Holliday Park Concerts %u2014 Aug. 27-28, 7 p.m.Riverside Park, 1856 Burdsal ParkwayHolliday Park, 6363 Spring Mill RoadShakespeare & Love - Adam Golka, Piano %u2014 Oct. 17, 8 p.m.Schrott Center for the Arts, 610 W. 46th St.Pulse - Melissa White, Violin %u2014 Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m.A Classical Christmas - Handel%u2019s Messiah in Full %u2014 Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m.Indiana Landmarks, 1201 Central Ave.Messiah Sing-Along + Christmas Carols %u2014 Dec. 13, 3 p.m.Indiana Landmarks, 1201 Central Ave.Nature & Soul - Schubert and Mahler %u2014 Jan. 16, 2027, 7:30 p.m.Schrott Center for the Arts, 610 W. 46th St.Spectrum - Beethoven, Anna Clyne, James Lee III %u2014 March 13, 2027, 7:30 p.m.Schrott Center for the Arts, 610 W. 46th St.Steamboat Bill, Jr. - Silent Film with Live Score %u2014 April 17, 2027, 7:30 p.m.Schrott Center for the Arts, 610 W. 46th St.Ben Folds live with the ICO %u2014 May 7, 2027, 8 p.m.The Payne & Mencias Palladium, 1 Carter Green, CarmelFull-season subscriptions for the ICO%u2019s 43rd season, %u201cStory Lines,%u201d are on sale now and include lost ticket replacement, free ticket exchanges, priority seating and two complimentary new guest tickets. Duet packs featuring two tickets go on sale on July 1, while single tickets go on sale Aug. 20. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit icomusic.org. Contact Arts & Culture Reporter Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848. Follow her on X @chloe_mcgowanxx.ICO announce 2026-27 season %u2018Story Lines%u2019 with two free concertsThe Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra announced its 2026-27 season, starting with two free summer concerts at Riverside and Holliday Parks. (Photo provided/Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra)chloegm@indyrecorder.comBy CHLOE McGOWAN%u00a0Classical saxophonist and composer Steven Banks will soon share the stage with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.Banks will perform %u201cLove Returns,%u201d a commissioned saxophone concerto by Joan Tower, as part of the ISO%u2019s upcoming %u201cAppalachian Spring%u201d concert with guest conductor Robert Spano on May 29-30. Banks sat down with the Recorder ahead of his debut performance with the ISO to discuss his career, new album, and working on %u201cLove Returns.%u201dResponses have been edited for clarity and brevity.For readers who aren%u2019t familiar with your work, can you introduce yourself and your background as a musician and composer?Steven Banks: I became interested in classical music a little bit later than most would, though I came from a musical family, my mom was an elementary school music teacher, dad played brass instruments. I went to high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, and there were a lot of artists of different kinds there %u2014 ballet dancers, actors, musicians, filmmakers. I really got into classical music there, though growing up, I was listening to and participating in a lot of gospel music and things like that. Once I found classical music, I never turned back. From there, one of the big things in my career is I won this competition called the Young Concert Artists Competitions, and that%u2019s what allowed me to start playing more concerts and get management.Can you talk about some of the ways you approach storytelling as both a musician and a composer? How do these roles difi er or overlap?Banks: With roots in gospel music, storytelling is sort of inherent. Beyond storytelling, it%u2019s just a certain vitality of whatever you%u2019re doing is extremely important. It%u2019s never just an intellectual exercise; it%u2019s always something meaningful. Growing up in church, they say before the service starts, %u2018does anyone have a song in their heart?%u2019 And someone just starts to sing. It%u2019s not like they preplanned it; it%u2019s just this music is coming up and helping people work through their real lives. That is always an undercurrent for me, whether I%u2019m performing or composing, just finding what is it about this thing I%u2019m playing that is human and what needs to come out.In terms of being both a performer and a composer, I used to think of them as a little bit more separate, but now I think that it%u2019s all kind of the same thing. %u2026 As a composer, I kind of crossed the fact that the things I was trying to convey emotionally, I couldn%u2019t actually put it down on the page. The beauty of being a performer is you%u2019re taking what the composer put down on the page and you%u2019re realizing it%u2019s not even close to the full story. Engaging with both sides of that allowed me to feel more in touch with the whole ecosystem of making music.Many people primarily associate the saxophone with jazz. What has your experience been like as a classical saxophonist, particularly as a musician of color navigating those spaces?Banks: Well, jokingly I%u2019ll say a lot of times, no matter what I%u2019m playing, people think I%u2019m playing jazz because I%u2019m holding a saxophone and I%u2019m a tall, Black man on the stage. One thing that I%u2019ve had to overcome for myself personally is this idea that I%u2019m always having to prove myself. As a saxophonist in the classical music world, I used to have this chip on my shoulder feeling like I have to prove this instrument belongs here. Also, as a Black man, having to always think or feel like I don%u2019t belong here, I%u2019m trying to prove that I do, either intellectually or playing perfectly. I used to say that I had to prove myself and now I%u2019m working on just trusting that I%u2019ve done enough and showing up as if I belong regardless.What would you say to young Black and brown musicians who see the work you%u2019re doing and want to follow in your footsteps?Banks: Whatever you are genuinely drawn to is okay, and to really foster the things you%u2019re actually interested in, but not at the expense of learning the fundamentals of musicianship. %u2026 It%u2019s always a balance of being able to follow your heart and being able to put out what resonates with you and also trying to grow that and %u2018have the chops,%u2019 as we might say, to make a living and play and take whatever gig you actually have. It%u2019s very common now for students that I work with sometimes to not want to do anything they don%u2019t inherently already love, and I think it%u2019s important to realize you need to balance both sides of that and it%u2019s not %u2018selling out%u2019 or not following your heart enough if you play a piece that isn%u2019t your favorite one. My teacher always said, %u2018whatever is on your stand needs to be your favorite piece,%u2019 and that has served me well.Your debut album, %u201cCries, Sighs, and Dreams,%u201d was released on May 8. What inspired the project, and is there a particular piece on the album that stands out to you personally?Banks: I view this project as a very strong marker for myself in my career, as sort of a capstone for the first portion of my career in that it includes a lot of different things I%u2019ve been a part of. There are some of my compositions on there that have been really important to me, also some standard repertoire that is very seminal for the saxophone, like the Creston Sonata, (which) is one of the, if not the most important pieces written for the classical saxophone. I also play all four of my saxophones, soprano, alto, tenor and baritone. I think it%u2019s just bringing together a lot of aspects of what I%u2019ve done and presenting that to the world.It%u2019s hard to choose what sticks out, but I will say %u201cCries, Sighs, and Dreams%u201d is also the name of one of the tracks on the album, which is a piece that I wrote. This name comes from a quote from Hector Berlioz where he was talking about the saxophone, and he says that the instrument cries, sighs and dreams, and I think it%u2019s a perfect encapsulation of what the saxophone does regardless of genre. I think it has a particularly visceral quality to it that a lot of other instruments have, maybe in a different way.Tell me about your upcoming performance of %u201cAppalachian Spring%u201d with the ISO. What is the signifi -cance of the piece audiences will hear?Banks: The piece that I%u2019ll be playing was co-commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony, and it%u2019s a piece called %u201cLove Returns%u201d by American composer Joan Tower. %u2026 This is a piece that memorializes her 50-year marriage with her recently deceased husband, and it%u2019s the first piece she wrote after he passed. This idea of love returns is talking about the ebb and flow of a very, very long life together and ways we grow apart and back together. It%u2019s interesting for people who are familiar with the concerto genre, it%u2019s not a typical concerto where the saxophone is just featured the whole time and it%u2019s a tour de force of trying to show off virtuosity. The form of the piece is the purpose, this natural ebb and flow. It%u2019s been very interesting to me to work on this piece and take on this different role as a soloist.What are you most excited about for your performance with the ISO?Banks: This is my first time playing with the Indianapolis Symphony, so I%u2019m looking forward to getting to know the musicians and the hall and Robert Spano. This is really a moment of discovery for me, so I am looking forward to all these new relationships. I also went to Indiana University for my undergrad, so I think this may be one of my first times performing back in Indiana for a pretty long time, so I%u2019m looking forward to that as well, in addition to just sharing this music with anyone who will listen.%u00a0%u00a0%u201cAppalachian Spring%u201d takes place at 7:30 p.m. on May 29 and 5:30 p.m. on May 30. For more information or tickets, visit indianapolissymphony.org.Contact Arts & Culture Reporter Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848. Follow her on X @chloe_mcgowanxx.Q&A: Saxophonist and composer Steven Banks to join ISO for %u2018Appalachian Spring%u2019Steven Banks, classical saxophonist and composer, will join the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra during %u201cAppalachian Spring%u201d on May 29-30. (Photo/Chris Lee)