GMAC Sunday Concert a Salute to Military, Patriotism
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
The Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium’s Executive Director Kylie Herbert has spent the past year experiencing a distinctly administrative baptism. Herbert, who also plays in the local symphony, is currently marking her first anniversary as GAMAC’s leader, a year that has been a rewarding and educational time.
Transitioning from the music stand to the back office, she has found herself navigating the labyrinthine logistics required to conjure a concert season out of thin air—a process she said is a mix of fun and formidable challenges.
"I have learned so much about everything that it takes to really pull a concert season together and have the best musicians and the best programming," said Herbert.
The consortium’s mandate is an earnest one: to deliver high-quality performing arts at affordable prices while utilizing the bedrock of local talent. This year, the stakes are decidedly historic. While GAMAC itself was founded in 1991, making this its 35th year, its marquee ensemble, the Anderson Symphony Orchestra, is ringing in its 50th concert season. To observe this half-century milestone, along with the looming two-hundred-and-fiftieth birthday of the United States, the organization is mounting a sweeping patriotic concert on Sunday.
Scheduled for 3 P.M. in the Henderson Auditorium of Anderson University’s Rainy Fine Arts Center, the performance will act as a chronological salute to the armed forces. The repertoire will bookend the American experience, opening with "The Star-Spangled Banner" and concluding with Sousa’s "The Stars and Stripes Forever." In a gesture of civic gratitude, admission is free for veterans, active military personnel, college students bearing an ID, and anyone under 18. For the rest, tickets are $18.
Looking back on her inaugural tenure, Herbert’s reflections bypass the administrative ledgers in favor of the transcendent moments that justify them. She recalls the palpable warmth of her first Christmas concert, as well as a recent performance by the GAMAC Chorale and the Anderson University Gospel Ensemble. That evening culminated in a rendition of "He Never Failed Me Yet" that brought the entire auditorium to its feet—an instance of sheer, kinetic musical persuasion.
"That is what it's about," Herbert said, "really moving people through music".
Yet, her personal zenith was perhaps the staging of Gustave Mahler’s Second Symphony in its entirety. It was a grueling undertaking—she considers it one of the hardest things she has ever done—but an extraordinary offering for a small-town orchestra to present to its community.
