Kyle Szabo guest conducts next Naples Community Orchestra concert featuring horn soloist

NAPLES, Fla. (March 21, 2022) – Kyle Szabo, who serves as the orchestra director at Florida Gulf Coast University will be the special guest conductor at the next Naples Community Orchestra performance on Saturday, April 9, 3:00 PM at Moorings Presbyterian Church, 791 Harbour Drive in Naples. The concert will also feature Ryan Little, principal horn of the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra.

This season, each guest conductor has hand selected their program and invoked their own unique repertoire which has significantly broadened the array of music performed by the orchestra. Szabo, an extraordinary musician, has assembled the next concert lineup including French romantic classics to spotlight Little’s mastery of the horn. Little will be featured on Richard Strauss’ daring and delightful first horn concerto, paired with French Romantic classics such as César Franck’s “Quatre Pieces Brèves” (orch. by Henri Büsser) and Gounod’s Symphony No. 1. The musical program also includes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s overture to, “Idomeneo” and Sibelius’ “Valse Triste” and “Valse Romantique.

Ticket reservations can be made online at naplescommunityorchestra.org. Complimentary tickets are available for students with valid student identification. Electronic tickets will be sent by email. Ticket holders may print them out or have them available on a smartphone to scan at the door. The concerts will also be live streamed. Contact tkingnco@gmail.com for more information.

NCO’s 2022 concert series is inspired by the community partnerships the orchestra has forged with Artis—Naples, FGCU and Collier County Public Schools (CCPS). The orchestra welcomes the participation of student musicians from both FGCU and CCPS high schools. NCO’s partnership with Artis—Naples provides musicians for conducting, sectional rehearsals, soloists, and rehearsal and event space.

Refer to the orchestra’s website for most current COVID-related policies for attendees. Capacity in the concert venue is limited to 300 in order to provide sufficient social distancing. As guests enter the sanctuary, they will space themselves appropriately. Ushers will be present to assist guests to available seats.

Naples Community Orchestra’s 2022 performance schedule will conclude with pops concerts Friday, April 29 at 7 PM and Saturday April 30. Naples’ own Jodie DeSalvo will be the guest conductor and pianist, and Broadway star tenor soloist Jonathan Zeng will perform several of America’s favorites including music composed by Cole Porter, George Gershwin, John Williams and more.

Kyle Szabo serves as the Orchestra Director at FGCU, where he directs the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. Under Szabo’s direction, the Symphony Orchestra has grown significantly. The Chamber Orchestra, started in the fall of 2016, now tours around the state and is invited to perform at a variety of venues. Szabo has also been appointed Conductor of the Southwest Florida Youth Symphony Orchestra. He frequently travels throughout Florida as a clinician for middle and high schools, adjudicator at competitions, and as a guest conductor with professional and community orchestras.

Szabo performs as a violinist and violist, and has performed as a recitalist and chamber musician in several different states. He was previously a faculty member at Ripon College (Wisconsin) as Director of Orchestral Activities. Szabo earned a Doctorate in conducting at James Madison University, a Master of Music in violin performance from the Peabody Conservatory, and a Bachelor of Music in violin performance from Rutgers University.

Hailed by Montréal’s La Presse as “nuanced and singing,” Ryan Little was appointed as Principal Horn of the Naples Philharmonic in April 2017 and also serves as Assistant Principal/Utility Horn of the Britt Music & Arts Festival. Born in Burke, Virginia to a musical family, he began studying piano at age 3 before switching to viola, trumpet, and eventually to horn at the age of 11. Ryan received his Master of Music degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in 2017 where he studied with William VerMeulen of the Houston Symphony. In 2015 he received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University where he studied with Gail Williams and Jonathan Boen.

Ryan has performed with the Chicago Arts Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Florida Orchestra, Houston Ballet, Houston Grand Opera, Houston Symphony, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Symphony. He won Second Prize and the Gretchen Snedeker Prize at the 2013 International Horn Competition of America. In 2014, he was selected as a finalist for the International Horn Society’s Premier Soloist Competition in London, England and at the Aeolus International Competition for Wind Instruments in Düsseldorf, Germany. As a concert soloist, he has performed with Northwestern University’s Baroque Music Ensemble and Symphonic Wind Ensemble, l’Orchestre de la Francophonie (Montréal), and the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra.

During the summers he has participated as a fellow in the Castleton Festival, Lucerne Festival Academy, National Orchestral Institute and Festival, l’Orchestre de la Francophonie, Spoleto Festival USA, Tanglewood Music Center, and YOA Orchestra of the Americas. Ryan performs on an instrument made in 2012 by Karl Hill of Rockford, Michigan.