Tom Bailey is looking forward to the new season of the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra, as much for the music he’s never heard – and even that which he will not like – as for the great, well-known pieces that tend to anchor a season.

“Maestro (Peter) Rubardt is always looking for ways to challenge his musicians and his audience with program selections,” said Bailey, a professor of English and communications at Pensacola State College. “I am already in anticipation of pieces by composers I haven’t heard of such as Tovey and also can’t wait for the organ concert with the composer Fuchs attending.

“And I know Rubardt has selected pieces that will best showcase what is arguably the best roster of guest artists over a season that the PSO has ever had.”

High expectations for pieces yet unheard. But this is the type of listener and audience that PSO Conductor Peter Rubardt has cultivated since coming to Pensacola 18 years ago.

“It’s always a balance between the pieces that everybody knows and loves, including us, that form the core of our repertoire, and the pieces that, over the course of the season, expand those horizons just a little bit. I’m very pleased with the balance we have for this season.”

This season will offer a number of new and unfamiliar pieces and performances by internationally known guests.

In November, clarinetist Anthony McGill, who played at the first Obama inauguration, will join the orchestra in a Clarinet Bel Canto including pieces by Rossini, Donizetti, Copland and Schumann.

 “He’s arguably the finest clarinetist in the world,” Rubardt said. “He was the principal at the Metropolitan Opera, but left to be the principal at the New York Philharmonic.”

Composer Kenneth Fuchs will join the symphony in April for a special performance of his new piece “Atlantic Riband.”

“He’ll be talking about his piece and other pieces on the program,” Rubardt said. “I know the conductor’s side, so it’s always intriguing to hear the composer’s side of music. Composers look at music, and the world, in a very different way.”

PSO will perform “Don Quixote” in March, using a large screen to keep the audience visually as well as aurally engaged by showing some key plot points of the story as they are expressed through music. “It’s a very colorful and rich and exciting and humorous piece,” Rubardt said.

The last concert of the season will combine new and old as the orchestra introduces its audience to a refurbished landmark – the Saenger Theater pipe organ, which has undergone a complete overhaul over the last two years thanks to efforts by Friends of the Saenger and a IMPACT 100 grant. In addition to restoring the console and pipes that have been hidden in the walls of the Saenger, the restoration will greatly increase the size, capacity and sound of the organ. PSO will perform an organ symphony by Camille Saint-Saëns, a piece familiar to film fans as featured in the movie “Babe.”

“When I move into a piece that is a slightly ambitious piece, I think about how to do it in a way that people will embrace,” Rubardt said. “I’ve had tremendous positive feedback about an approach to programming that ensures artistic growth and excellence and embraces the occasional risk.”

A more traditional undertaking, and a favorite of every season, is “Mozart Madness” performed in commemoration of the composer’s birthday.

Even when dealing with tradition, the orchestra is doing a bit of the unexpected by presenting the composer’s Requiem Mass. It’s a piece made famous in recent history by the movie “Amadeus,” Rubardt said. The PSO will be performing at First Baptist Church with the UWF Singers and several soloists.

Bailey said it’s that kind of variety and exploration that keeps him supporting the PSO year after year.

“I appreciate the classics, but as an educator, I view the integral mission of a vibrant, sustained symphony such as ours to foster lifelong learning,” said Bailey.

Even if someone doesn’t like a piece, it’s an opportunity to learn and discuss.

“After all, art is to entertain, to inspire, but also to provoke, push,” he said. “The present season is a testament to Maestro Rubardt’s commitment to this end, and why the PSO is such an evolving, enduring cultural gem in our city.”

It’s a mission Rubardt and the PSO take seriously.

“We are the steward of this art for in this town,” Rubardt said. “Not just Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, but events like a world premiere of a contemporary composer that broadens the knowledge of everyone.”

Opening Night!

Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. Location: Saenger Theatre Peter Rubardt, conductor Glenn Dicterow, violin

Clarinet Bel Canto

Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. Location: Saenger Theatre Peter Rubardt, conductor Anthony McGill, clarinet

Celebrate the New Year!

Dec. 31 at 7 p.m. Location: Saenger Theatre Peter Rubardt, conductor Lindsay Deutsch, violin

Beethoven & Blue Jeans

Jan. 10, 2015 at 8 p.m. Location: Saenger Theatre Peter Rubardt, conductor Joseph Alessi, trombone

Mozart Madness

Jan. 31, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. Location: First Baptist Church, Pensacola Peter Rubardt, Conductor

Byron Stripling in Sounds of New Orleans: A Tribute to Louis Armstrong

Feb. 14, 2015 at 8 p.m. Location: Saenger Theatre Peter Rubardt, conductor Byron Stripling, trumpet

Don Quixote

March 7, 2015 at 8 p.m. Location: Saenger Theatre Peter Rubardt, conductor Scott Kluksdahl, cello

Russian Spectacular

March 28, 2015 at 8 p.m. Location: Saenger Theatre Peter Rubardt, conductor Ilya Yakushev, piano

Organ Symphony

April 25, 2015 at 8 p.m.

Location: Saenger Theatre

Peter Rubardt, conductor

Kenneth Fuchs, composer

RESPIGHI - Fountains of Rome

FUCHS - Atlantic Riband

SAINT-SAËNS - Symphony No. 3, "Organ Symphony"