THE WICHITA EAGLE
 

Sunday, June 12, 1994 Section: LIVELY ARTS Edition: CITY  Page: 1C Memo: MUSIC     BIG CROWD EMBRACES FLINT HILLS SYMPHONY     By Rhonda Holman, The Wichita Eagle CHASE COUNTY Jane Koger's "Symphony on the Prairie" was supposed to be for the people of this verdant county, but many in the crowd of about 4,000 Saturday evening had crossed county and even state lines to get to the 160- acre concert site on Koger's all-women Homestead Ranch east of Matfield Green.  Even the toll-booth attendant at the Cassoday turnpike exit knew all about it.

"Enjoy yourself this evening," he offered, looking amused.  Before, during and after the 90-minute concert by a 60-piece orchestra of women, it was tough to find anyone in the audience of city folk and farmers, toddlers and senior citizens who wasn't having a fine time.  But then, how often in a lifetime do you get to hear Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring" and "Rodeo" accompanied by the singing of meadowlarks? Or from the vantage point of a slope lush with tallgrass and the blue haze of wild alfalfa, as you gaze at a horizon interrupted only by cattle and a lone tree? Koger, a fourth-generation resident of the county, conceived of the concert as a gift to her neighbors. But as the special arrangement of "Home on the Range" (by Richard Hayman, the St. Louis Symphony's principal pops conductor) brought the concert to a close, she looked like the one who'd just been given the present.  ''Out of this world," she exclaimed, as she accepted grateful handshakes and hugs from friends and strangers. "It's hard to not do it again. I mean, I'd do it next Saturday night."  She had spent much of the afternoon, in her pith helmet and official T- shirt, clutching an official jelly jar of iced tea and looking relaxed, as co-producers Dora Robinson and and Joan Briccetti, both of St. Louis, scurried around dealing with details and trying not to worry about the darkening sky.  Everybody involved in the effort, which took 300 volunteers and musicians, talked about the amazing teamwork. "We worked our tails off yesterday . . . but we couldn't wait to get back out here this morning, because it's unique," said Ted Livingston, a teacher and the mayor of Cottonwood Falls. Livingston had been on the crew that spent Friday building the stage.  Penny Thompson Kruse, the orchestra's concertmaster and a member of the William Jewell College faculty in Liberty, Mo., said she didn't think twice about playing in the all-women group. "It's different, but different is a good thing. Nice to have a little reverse discrimination," she said.  The sun finally broke through, leaving a white glow of sky streaked with blue. As the orchestra, conducted by Deborah Freedman, music director of the St. Joseph (Mo.) Symphony, played works by Joan Tower and Libby Larsen as well as Copland, people shielded their eyes from the sun or lay back on their quilts. Children blew bubbles or climbed a stack of hay bales. Many roamed the hills. A couple of people flew kites. During the "Hoe Down" section of "Rodeo," three women and a little girl kicked up their heels in a spontaneous square dance.  For some, the setting was the event. For others, it was the orchestra. "We see the land, but we have to go a long way to hear a philharmonic," said Virginia Moxley, who ranches with her husband near Council Grove.  To help cover the concert's $27,000 cost, volunteers sold T-shirts, tote bags, coffee mugs and the like in one tent and took donations in another.  Problems were few. The easy breeze on stage proved a challenge, despite clothespins to keep the music still on the stands and duct tape to keep the stands still. The sound faded out near the top of the natural amphitheater. The 300 vegetarian sandwiches ran out an hour before showtime (Lawrence's Free State Brewery also had more than 2,000 beef brisket sandwiches for sale). And OK, they could have used more wastecans.  Jerry Karr, the Democratic leader of the Kansas Senate whose district includes the Koger ranch, was among those who started the event out with a saucy sandwich. "I think it's a very classy operation," he said, sitting incongruously on a hay bale in a tent.  In the small camp of dissenters was Mildred Harbaugh, who had come to hear the concert on a bus from the Strong City Senior Center. Midway through "Appalachian Spring," she muttered that it was taking way too long. And "the meal was a mess," she said after the concert.  But one thing was beyond argument: "Real pretty country," she said.  ''This is God's country," added companion Ervan Naymor.  ''Yes it is," she said.

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