Hector Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9

SYSO 2019 Concerto Competition Winner

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64

Berlioz and Tchaikovsky highlight SYSO’s 75th anniversary opening concert.

Hector Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture is a characterful and expressive concert piece that the composer derived from his poorly received opera Benvenuto Cellini. Determined to salvage some of the music he had written for the opera, Berlioz crafted together the Roman Carnival Overture from various parts of the score and conducted the premiere himself to an extremely positive reception, with the audience taken by the soaring melodies and exuberant climax.

Also on the program is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5, one of Tchaikovsky’s most beloved large-scale works. The piece begins with a mournful theme in the vein of a funeral march and slowly unfolds this theme throughout until it culminates triumphantly in the finale.

Join us for an afternoon with SYSO’s four training orchestras in a concert featuring a wide array of exciting repertoire performed expressively by our younger musicians. 

Maurice Ravel: Rhapsodie Espagnole

Robert Schumann: Concert Piece for Four Horns
and Orchestra, Op. 86

Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D Major

Ravel, Schumann, and Mahler highlight SYSO’s winter concert.

Maurice Ravel’s Rhapsodie Espagnole stands unique amongst Ravel’s works in that it is his only piece originally conceived as an orchestral concert piece. After setting out to create an orchestral piece, the composer crafted together four Spanish sketches, including a habanera he had written for two pianos more than a decade earlier, and the product is one of the most colorful and dynamic examples of Spanish orchestral music ever written.

SYSO welcomes the French horns of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra to perform Robert Schumann’s Concert Piece for Four Horns and Orchestra. Schumann’s great love for the horn led him to write numerous works for solo horn and eventually construct this piece for four horns with its festive melodies and jubilant climax.

Also on the program is Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 1. Although the symphony has a troubled history, with a widely negative response at the premiere, it has gone on to become one of Mahler’s most widely-performed works as it pushes the orchestra to the limit from its large and soaring melodies to a somber funeral march that utilizes a dark and distorted version of “Frère Jacques”.

As a special 75th anniversary event, Prelude, Symphonette, Debut, and Junior orchestras team up with The Skyros Quartet, a staple of the Seattle classical music scene, and Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra for an afternoon that will spectacularly blend symphonic music and jazz.

Paul Chihara: Music from “The Tempest”

Ernest Chauson: Poème, Op. 25

Leonard Bernstein: “Make our Garden Grow” from Candide

Aaron Copland: “The Promise of Living” from The Tender Land

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2

The Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra performs the music of Chihara, Chausson, Bernstein, Copland, and Saint-Saens with the Seattle Choral Company and guest soloist Mae Lin in their final concert of the 75th anniversary season.

SYSO welcomes Seattle Symphony violinist Mae Lin to perform Poeme by Ernest Chausson. Lin previously served as Associate Concertmaster of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and Artist in Residence at the University of Evansville after receiving a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music in Performance from The Juilliard School.

Next, the Seattle Choral Company led by SYSO alumnus Freddie Coleman joins the orchestra to perform Leonard Bernstein’s “Make our Garden Grow” from Candide and Aaron Copland’s “The Promise of Living” from The Tender Land. The Seattle Choral Company has, over the course of 30 years, become one of the region’s most accomplished and respected choral organizations

SYSO’s younger musicians perform with The Gothard Sisters for an afternoon that will spectacularly blend symphonic music with traditional Celtic tunes.