Dear Friends of the Yakima Symphony Orchestra:
Our 2024-25 season, in memory of Michael J. Murphy, MD: John Williams; The Soundtrack to Our Lives, continues in February! Throughout the entertainment industry, February is awards month. The YSO is celebrating first with a nod to the big screen in our Gaelic Celebration by featuring John Williams' score to the blockbuster film Far and Away, that featured Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Then we pull out all the stops with Oscar Night: A Red Carpet Event.
The next concert of the Yakima Valley Classical Series will take place on February 1st and is called Gaelic Celebration. In addition to John Williams' Irish-flavored film score to Far and Away, we will be presenting two masterpieces from the classical symphonic repertoire. First is the Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch. This beautiful piece based on Scottish folk tunes is essentially a violin concerto and will feature the return of David Kim, Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra, as guest artist. Our audience will remember Mr. Kim for his brilliant performance of Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires with the YSO several years back. The second half of the program will consist of the Gaelic Symphony by Amy Beach. Composed in 1894, this was the first symphony ever composed and published by an American woman. Similar to the Bruch, it is based on Scottish, Irish and English folk tunes. I suspect that, for our audience, this piece will fall into the category of music that they have not heard before, but will find to be absolutely wonderful.
The Gilbert Orchards Pops Series continues on February 22nd with Oscar Night: A Red Carpet Event. This is a chronological journey through the greatest Oscar-winning films and film scores of all-time. In order to qualify for this program, a film had to have won the Academy Award for either Best Film, Best Music, or both! The program begins with Gone with the Wind and ends with Oppenheimer. In between we have such classics as Ben Hur, West Side Story, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Doctor Zhivago, The Godfather, Rocky, Chariots of Fire, Out of Africa, Forrest Gump, Titanic, Lord of the Rings and La La Land! One note of interest is that Lord of the Rings calls for a Boy Soprano soloist. It is actually a very difficult part and it is not easy to find a Boy Soprano who can pull it off. But luckily, I happen to know one...my 11-year-old son, Joseph!
We look forward to seeing you on February 1st and 22nd at the Capitol Theatre for Gaelic Celebration and the Oscar Night: A Red Carpet Event!