Season Finale Concerts
Our Season Finale Concert is sure to please, with the orchestra performing one of the great classics of the entire orchestral literature: Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. One of the most evocative and masterful of all orchestral works, this 1888 symphonic suite combines two features typical of Russian music and of Rimsky-Korsakov in particular: dazzling, colorful orchestration and an interest in the East. As a companion to the “exotic” theme of this final concert, we are very proud to offer the West Coast premiere of Mason Bates’ Resurrexit, first performed by the Pittsburg Symphony this past year. Resurrexit takes us to the Middle East and evokes exotic modes and sonorities as it laments the death of Christ. Mason Bates, who was voted Composer of the Year in 2018 by Musical America, is the second-most widely performed living composer in America and a Bay Area resident. Our concert will also feature three senior soloist competition winners. Miss Jocelyn Pon will perform Martinu’s Rhapsody Concerto for viola and orchestra. Principal Bassonist Sonny Young will perform the rarely heard Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra by Rossini, and Davis You will be performing Schumann’s glorious cello concerto. Don’t miss this exciting and extremely virtuosic final concert!
Leo Eylar, conductor
Jocelyn Pon, Viola
Sonny Young, Bassoon
Davis You, Cello
Bates: Resurrexit (West Coast premiere)
Martinu: Rhapsody Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
Rossini: Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra
Schumann: Cello Concerto
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
Featured Composer
Composer of the Grammy-winning opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Mason Bates serves as the first composer-in-residence of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts...
Graduating Senior Concerto Competition
Each year CYS holds a competition for its current members to select outstanding graduating seniors to be provided with an opportunity to perform with the orchestra on its season finale concerts. Winning the Concerto Competition is considered one of the highest honors at the California Youth Symphony.
While CYS is pleased to motivate and reward young musicians, the annual Concerto Competition is often more than a platform for students seeking a future in music. While many past winners have gone on to pursue music professionally, a number of competition winners have pursued education and careers in fields as diverse as biology, physics, and engineering. The California Youth Symphony considers it a pleasure to work with and inspire some of the leading minds of tomorrow and cultivate a lifelong appreciation of the arts as they become audience members of the future.
