Season Premiere

"Local Treasures" 20th Anniversary Season premiere concert program features world premiere of composition by local legend Raymond Harary, Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to “Candide,” Hanson’s “Romantic” Symphony and more.

The season-opening concert will also feature a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s energetic Overture to “Candide.” The overture is one of the most frequently-performed pieces by an American composer, incorporating melodies from songs in the well-known operetta. Opening with a brass fanfare and continuing at a break-neck pace, this work is enormously popular with musicians and audiences alike.

Howard Hanson, an American composer who served for decades as the director of the Eastman School of Music, premiered the three-part Symphony No. 2 "Romantic" in 1930. Hanson explained that his aim was “to create a work young in spirit, Romantic in temperament, and simple and direct in expression.” Bold and colorful, the symphony’s first movement features the well-known “Interlochen” theme, performed at the conclusion of every concert at the prestigious northern-Michigan summer camp.

Corigliano's “Voyage,” which premiered in 1976 as an a capella choral composition, is a string orchestra adaptation of the lush and sensual original. Beginning with a contemplative tempo, the theme conveys Baudelaire’s original text, "there is nothing else but grace and measure, richness, quietness and pleasure." Corigliano, now in his eighties and the recipient of an Oscar, a Pulitzer and five Grammy awards, serves on the faculty at the Juilliard School.

George Frederick McKay’s "From a Moonlit Ceremony" is a lovely suite inspired by native American folk songs McKay observed during a ceremony on the Muckleshoot Indian reservation. McKay, like Harary and Hanson, was an educator as well as a composer, being the first-ever composition graduate of the Eastman School of music and a mentor to many well-known composers. He composed nearly 1000 works including 70 orchestral works.

The YSO is proud of its unique and significant cultural contribution to the Ypsilanti area. The YSO’s mission is “to share our passion for music through innovative programming, creative collaboration, and arts advocacy,” and to “actively contribute to the music appreciation and education of our musicians, organizational members and audience.” Led by Founder and Music Director Adam C. Riccinto, the Symphony marks its 20th anniversary with its 2018-19 season.