Rexburg Tabernacle Orchestra to honor retiring conductor at spring concert

REXBURG—Dr. Kevin Call, a local composer and director of the Rexburg Tabernacle Orchestra, will direct his last concert with the group Thursday.

The 7:30 p.m. concert is a tribute to him as a conductor and for the orchestra to show its gratitude for his time and talents and for his contribution to the community. The theme of this concert will be “A Tale of Two Symphonies,” which will take the audience on a journey to Austria in the 1800s.

The concert celebrates different patterns of music that will allow listeners to reflect on the same notes of classical music and have different viewpoints. The orchestra will perform Eberl and Beethoven symphonies back to back so the audience can get the same experience as the Austrian audience two centuries ago, and they can decide for themselves which movement they like more.

Rexburg Arts Coordinator Jed Platt said this concert is special because it allows people from different backgrounds to come together and celebrate their differences. Although there is a live audience at the Rexburg Tabernacle, seating will be limited to about 300 people. Those who can’t attend the concert in person can watch the concert via live stream with a link being found on the Rexburg Arts social media pages the day of the concert. Click here for more information.

This is the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic began that there will be a live audience. Also, the full orchestra will perform in the same setting. In the last several months, brass and woodwind performers weren’t able to perform with the strings.

Several musicians of the Rexburg Orchestra played under Call’s baton when they were students at Ricks College. Annette Ricks a violist in the orchestra, started playing the viola because of Call. She said her experiences with him have been phenomenal.

“People matter to Kevin, and through his teaching, musicians are able to reach their potential,” Ricks said.

Throughout his career, Call has been a mentor to hundreds of professional musicians, students and other volunteers, and this concert honors his legacy as a teacher.

A bassoonist, Gina Miller has been with the orchestra since it began in 2004. She has also seen how Call’s experience allows musicians to play to the best of their abilities.

“He always has a tool or method that helps us play even the most difficult passages,” Miller said.

While Shannon Packer, a violinist, has had the opportunity to know Call inside the orchestra, she has also gotten to know him outside of the orchestra as they have been neighbors. She said that he’s a family man and has lived a life of serving and teaching those around him.

Call was a music professor at Ricks College and BYU-Idaho for 34 years and retired in 2017. He received his master’s and doctorate degrees in viola performance and came to Rexburg in 1984 to be a conductor. He has been directing the Rexburg Orchestra for about 10 years.

“I believe that the musicians are more important than the music and that the music is a means to an end,” Call said. “There is an amazing group of musicians in Rexburg, so it’s just a time to get together with my friends.”