Love Is

What is love? A moment of tenderness, a burst of joy, devotion that endures separation, or a deep bond with the earth and the place we call home? Love Is presents love in its many dimensions—from intimate and playful to spiritual, courageous, and profound. Through music by Morten Lauridsen, Gustav Holst, John Muehleisen, Eric Whitacre, and Bohuslav Martinů, Opus 7 invites you into a richly varied exploration on the power of love to delight and sustain us.

• Morten Lauridsen: “O Love, Be Fed With Apples While You May” from Mid-Winter Songs for choir & piano

• Gustav Holst: “I Love my Love” from Six Choral Folksongs

• John Muehleisen: Love Is (Seattle premiere) for choir & trumpet

• Eric Whitacre: Five Hebrew Love Songs for choir & string quartet

• Joe Burke and Edgar Leslie: Redhead

• Bohuslav Martinů: Mikeš z hor (Mikesh from the mountains) for choir, string trio & piano

• Stephen Paulus: Hymn for America

Featuring

Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble – Loren W. Pontén, Founder & Artistic Director

Michelle Huang, piano

Jared Hall, trumpet

Selina Siow & Cecilia Archuleta, violin

Maren Kilmer, viola

Laura Kramer, cello

Please visit our Facebook page Opus7Seattle, or

our instagram page @opus7vocalensemble for more information.

● Concert Overview

What You’ll Hear

America has never had one sound.

It sings through anthem and blues, through jazz clubs and concert halls, through stride piano, spirituals, street songs, opera, celebration, and reinvention. LIFT opens Olympia Symphony’s 2026/27 season, Kaleidoscope, with a program where American sound rises from joy, memory, resilience, and hope.

Jessie Montgomery’s Banner asks what an anthem means in a country still becoming itself. Woven from The Star-Spangled Banner, Lift Every Voice and Sing, and other musical echoes, it turns a familiar symbol into something larger, more layered, and alive with many voices.

At the heart of the concert, guest artist Calder Failla joins the orchestra for Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, where smoky jazz, sweeping melody, and symphonic ambition meet in one of the most recognizable openings in American music. Gershwin returns in Porgy and Bess: Catfish Row, bringing the opera’s Charleston sound world into rich orchestral color. Gershwin’s insistence on an all-Black cast for Porgy and Bess helped create major operatic opportunities for Black singers at a time when blackface still appeared on American stages.

Wynton Marsalis’s Blues Symphony expands the blues into a vast orchestral journey, while James P. Johnson’s Victory Stride closes the circle with the pulse and brilliance of Harlem stride piano.

Inspired by artists who moved across genres to make room for their fullest voices, LIFT celebrates music that refuses to stay in one lane. This is not one version of America. It is a kaleidoscope of voices, each one lifting the next.

Program

Jessie MONTGOMERY: Banner

Wynton MARSALIS: Blues Symphony (Mvt. 3, 4 & 5)

George GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue

George GERSHWIN: Catfish Row from Porgy and Bess

James P. JOHNSON: Victory Stride

Artists

Alexandra Arrieche, conductor

Calder Failla, piano

Ying Lam, guest conductor

Tickets

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2026 - “SOUNDS OF THE AMERICAN WEST- FAMILY CONCERT.

A CELEBRATION OF BOTH AMERICA’S 250TH ANNIVERSARY AND THE NORTHWEST SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’S 40TH ANNIVERSARY

AT HIGHLINE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER AT 7:30 PM

*STUDENTS AGE 18 AND UNDER GET IN FREE

Philharmonic Fanfare — Gina Gillie (NWSO 40th and America’s 250th Anniversaries)

Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo — Aaron Copland

Cascadiana — Scott Henderson

Sketches from the Northwest — Nina Iorik (featured student composer)

Cowboy Suite — Brent Irwin (World Premiere)

A Festival Rondo — Richard Meyers and A Pioneers Tale — Alan Lee Silva — with students from Highline School District, Key to Change Studio and West Seattle High School

*Tickets for this concert may be purchased starting 45 minutes before the concert, or by calling the Northwest Symphony Orchestra at (206) 242-6321

https://www.northwestsymphonyorchestra.org/season-concerts

https://octavachamberorchestra.com

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Free admission!

2026 summer concert: Northwest Pops Orchestra hails the World Cup and 2 Line

Join us for an outdoor concert at 4:30 p.m. on Tues., June 23, 2026, at City Center Plaza, 555 110th Ave. NE, Bellevue

Stroll by or sit down after your work day, meander over from your hotel room, or take light rail. Northwest Pops Orchestra celebrates the World Cup tournament with our 26-piece professional ensemble showcasing the music of participating countries. Delight in light classics, jazz, pop, and show tunes, all in lush orchestral form. Bonus: train tunes to hail the 2 Line light rail opening across Lake Washington connecting you to the games. Serious fun for all!

Brought to you by City of Bellevue Community Programming Fund and Music Performance Trust Fund.

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The BSO closes out their season with a concert that captures the joy of life and the poignancy of its impermanence. Gabriela Ortiz's Kauyumari opens the program – a joyful work filled with rhythmic vitality by one of Mexico's most celebrated living composers. Next the BSO is thrilled to welcome back virtuoso violinist Yvette Kraft to perform Samuel Barber's lyrical Violin Concerto. The concert culminates in the BSO's first-ever performance of Tchaikovsky’s final masterpiece, the Symphony No. 6 in B minor "Pathétique"—a work of astonishing beauty, grandeur, and vulnerability. 

Program:

Gabriela Ortiz: Kauyumari

Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14

-Yvette Kraft, violin

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor “Pathétique”

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Ticket

The BSO closes out their season with a concert that captures the joy of life and the poignancy of its impermanence. Gabriela Ortiz's Kauyumari opens the program – a joyful work filled with rhythmic vitality by one of Mexico's most celebrated living composers. Next the BSO is thrilled to welcome back virtuoso violinist Yvette Kraft to perform Samuel Barber's lyrical Violin Concerto. The concert culminates in the BSO's first-ever performance of Tchaikovsky’s final masterpiece, the Symphony No. 6 in B minor "Pathétique"—a work of astonishing beauty, grandeur, and vulnerability. 

Program:

Gabriela Ortiz: Kauyumari

Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14

-Yvette Kraft, violin

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor “Pathétique”

Website

Ticket

The BSO closes out their season with a concert that captures the joy of life and the poignancy of its impermanence. Gabriela Ortiz's Kauyumari opens the program – a joyful work filled with rhythmic vitality by one of Mexico's most celebrated living composers. Next the BSO is thrilled to welcome back virtuoso violinist Yvette Kraft to perform Samuel Barber's lyrical Violin Concerto. The concert culminates in the BSO's first-ever performance of Tchaikovsky’s final masterpiece, the Symphony No. 6 in B minor "Pathétique"—a work of astonishing beauty, grandeur, and vulnerability. 

Program:

Gabriela Ortiz: Kauyumari

Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14

-Yvette Kraft, violin

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor “Pathétique”

Website

Ticket

BUTTERFLY FANTASY

Mei-Ann Chen conductor
Melissa White violin

Che-Yi LeeDancing Strings
Chen/He Butterfly Lovers Concerto
Ravel Mother Goose (complete)

Artistic Partner Mei-Ann Chen joins us for this phenomenal East meets West program. Following Che-Yi Lee's dynamic and virtuosic Dancing Strings, violinist Melissa White brings us the beloved Butterfly Lovers' Concerto, a tale of love, longing and transformation. Ravel's Mother Goose closes our season, with magical spinning wheels, pagodas, princesses and enchanted gardens. This program includes a mini Taiwan Festival with food and activities provided by Asia Pacific Cultural Center. 

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BUTTERFLY FANTASY

Mei-Ann Chen conductor
Melissa White violin

Che-Yi Lee Dancing Strings
Chen/He Butterfly Lovers Concerto
Ravel Mother Goose (complete)

Artistic Partner Mei-Ann Chen joins us for this phenomenal East meets West program. Following Che-Yi Lee's dynamic and virtuosic Dancing Strings, violinist Melissa White brings us the beloved Butterfly Lovers' Concerto, a tale of love, longing and transformation. Ravel's Mother Goose closes our season, with magical spinning wheels, pagodas, princesses and enchanted gardens. This program includes a mini Taiwan Festival with food and activities provided by Asia Pacific Cultural Center. 

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Ottorino RESPIGHI Antiche Arie e Danze Suite III
Nimrod BORENSTEIN Concerto for Alto Saxophone Op,70a (US Premiere) 
Elliott CARTER Elegy for string orchestra
Richard STRAUSS Metamorphosen for 23 string players

Michael BROCKMAN alto saxophone
Lorenzo MARASSO conductor 
Seattle Chamber Orchestra

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Concert includes stunning nature photographs from Washington State

• Morning Mood- Edvard Grieg

• In the Hall of the Mountain King- Edvard Grieg

• Horizons- Christopher Tyler Nickel

• Pavane for the Sleeping Beauty in the Woods- Maurice Ravel

• The Enchanted Garden- Maurice Ravel

• Spring Morning- Frederick Delius

• Intermezzo- Georges Bizet

• March of the Toreadors- Georges Bizet

• Slavonic Dance Op. 8 No.1- Antonin Dvorak

• Farandole- Georges Bizet

• Entry of the Gods into Valhalla- Richard Wagner

  *Special Guests- The Musical Mountaineers- Anastasia Allison, violin; Rose Freeman, piano

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Pacific Northwest harpist Elizabeth Landis takes the spotlight in Ginastera’s Harp Concerto, a thrilling and percussive showpiece full of Latin American vibrance. A familiar face in the regional music scene, Landis performs regularly with Seattle Symphony, Symphony Tacoma, and Northwest Sinfonietta—and now steps center stage with the Olympia Symphony.

Then, by popular request from our orchestra musicians, we perform one of the most powerful symphonies of the 20th century: Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. Written under Soviet censorship, it’s a deeply emotional journey—steeped in irony, defiance, sorrow, and triumph.

Celebrate the end of the season with bold music, unforgettable artistry, and a full house at the Washington Center. Let’s close this chapter in motion—together. 

Alberto GINASTERA: Harp Concerto (1956)

featuring Elizabeth Landis, harp

Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5 (1937)

​
Alexandra Arrieche, Music Director and Conductor

Approximate run time:  1 hour 45 minutes (including intermission)

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For the first time since 2017, the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra joins forces with Bainbridge Chorale for an all-French concert that revels in pageantry, color, and shared musical experience. The program features the brilliant brass of Dukas’s La Péri, the elegant lyricism of Fauré’s Pavane, the sacred intimacy of Messiaen's O sacrum convivium, and the luminous orchestral colors of Debussy’s Nocturnes. The evening culminates in a performance of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, a work of warmth and serenity that offers a profoundly moving expression of reflection, unity, and the transcendent power of music.

Program:

Paul Dukas: Fanfare pour précéder La Péri

Gabriel Fauré: Pavane, Op. 50

Olivier Messiaen: O sacrum convivium!

Claude Debussy: Nocturnes

– intermission –

Maurice Duruflé: Requiem, Op. 9

-Madeleine Smith, mezzo-soprano & Darrell Jordan, baritone

Ticket

Website

For the first time since 2017, the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra joins forces with Bainbridge Chorale for an all-French concert that revels in pageantry, color, and shared musical experience. The program features the brilliant brass of Dukas’s La Péri, the elegant lyricism of Fauré’s Pavane, the sacred intimacy of Messiaen's O sacrum convivium, and the luminous orchestral colors of Debussy’s Nocturnes. The evening culminates in a performance of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, a work of warmth and serenity that offers a profoundly moving expression of reflection, unity, and the transcendent power of music.

Program:

Paul Dukas: Fanfare pour précéder La Péri

Gabriel Fauré: Pavane, Op. 50

Olivier Messiaen: O sacrum convivium!

Claude Debussy: Nocturnes

– intermission –

Maurice Duruflé: Requiem, Op. 9

-Madeleine Smith, mezzo-soprano & Darrell Jordan, baritone

Ticket

Website

For the first time since 2017, the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra joins forces with Bainbridge Chorale for an all-French concert that revels in pageantry, color, and shared musical experience. The program features the brilliant brass of Dukas’s La Péri, the elegant lyricism of Fauré’s Pavane, the sacred intimacy of Messiaen's O sacrum convivium, and the luminous orchestral colors of Debussy’s Nocturnes. The evening culminates in a performance of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, a work of warmth and serenity that offers a profoundly moving expression of reflection, unity, and the transcendent power of music.

Program:

Paul Dukas: Fanfare pour précéder La Péri

Gabriel Fauré: Pavane, Op. 50

Olivier Messiaen: O sacrum convivium!

Claude Debussy: Nocturnes

– intermission –

Maurice Duruflé: Requiem, Op. 9

-Madeleine Smith, mezzo-soprano & Darrell Jordan, baritone

Ticket

Website

Program:

​String Poems, A Tripartite----------------------------------Kjell Magne Andersen

Serenade for String Orchestra--------------------------------------------Dag Wiren

Suite Champetre Op. 98b-----------------------------------------------Jean Sibelius

Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra--------------------------Adam Neiman
Jason Kuo, Piano Soloist

SKY & STONE

Yaniv Attar conductor

Angelique Poteat Pebble Conglomerate (World Premiere)
Rautavaara Cantus Arcticus, Concerto for Birds and Orchestra
Beethoven Symphony No. 6, Pastoral

Northwest Sinfonietta brings the wonders of the great outdoors inside the concert hall with Sky & Stone. This innovative and collaborative program opens with a newly commissioned piece by NWS clarinetist Angelique Poteat inspired by the famous Chuckanut Formation near Bellingham, Washington. Next we transform the hall into the bogs and frozen tundra of the Arctic with Rautavaara's concerto for birdsong and orchestra, Cantus Arcticus. Beethoven's pastoral Symphony No. 6 concludes the concert with its bubbling brook, thunder storm and joyful country gathering. Northwest Sinfonietta is partnering with Tacoma Tree Foundation, Tahoma Bird Alliance, Spaceworks Tacoma and Tacoma Youth Symphony for this performance.

https://nwsinfonietta.org

Tickets

SKY & STONE

Yaniv Attar conductor

Angelique Poteat Pebble Conglomerate (World Premiere)
Rautavaara Cantus Arcticus, Concerto for Birds and Orchestra
Beethoven Symphony No. 6, Pastoral

Northwest Sinfonietta brings the wonders of the great outdoors inside the concert hall with Sky & Stone. This innovative and collaborative program opens with a newly commissioned piece by NWS clarinetist Angelique Poteat inspired by the famous Chuckanut Formation near Bellingham, Washington. Next we transform the hall into the bogs and frozen tundra of the Arctic with Rautavaara's concerto for birdsong and orchestra, Cantus Arcticus. Beethoven's pastoral Symphony No. 6 concludes the concert with its bubbling brook, thunder storm and joyful country gathering. Northwest Sinfonietta is partnering with Tacoma Tree Foundation, Tahoma Bird Alliance, Spaceworks Tacoma and Tacoma Youth Symphony for this performance.

https://nwsinfonietta.org

Tickets

TAKE A HIKE! (WITH BEETHOVEN) - FREE FAMILY CONCERT

Rebekah O’Brien conductor

Come Take a Hike! with Beethoven and Northwest Sinfonietta at the beautiful Rialto Theater in downtown Tacoma on March 14. Led by conductor Rebekah O'Brien, orchestra and audience will explore nature through Beethoven's Pastoral symphony, full of bubbling brooks, chirping birds and even a surprise summer storm. Designed for adventurers of all ages (0-99), this concert welcomes every response to the music.

This concert runs approximately 60 minutes, and is FREE to the community with support from Tacoma Creates and many other funders. We will be joined at the concert by our friends at Tacoma Youth Symphony Association and other partners, including Tacoma Tree Foundation and Tahoma Bird Alliance.

Website

Reserve your seat here!

Program:

​Moncayo  Tierra de temporal
Liebermann  Piccolo Concerto 
with Julin Cheung, piccolo
Barber  The School for Scandal,  Overture
Copland  Appalachian Spring  

Tickets here!

This joyful midwinter concert whisks you away on a symphonic journey—by land, sea, and imagination. All Aboard celebrates motion, momentum, and the thrill of travel, with Dvořák’s sunny and optimistic Symphony No. 8 as the centerpiece. Full of pastoral charm and radiant orchestral color, it’s the perfect musical escape to shake off the winter blues and explore the world through sound.

Tickets here!

This joyful midwinter concert whisks you away on a symphonic journey—by land, sea, and imagination. All Aboard celebrates motion, momentum, and the thrill of travel, with Dvořák’s sunny and optimistic Symphony No. 8 as the centerpiece. Full of pastoral charm and radiant orchestral color, it’s the perfect musical escape to shake off the winter blues and explore the world through sound.

Tickets here!

This joyful midwinter concert whisks you away on a symphonic journey—by land, sea, and imagination. All Aboard celebrates motion, momentum, and the thrill of travel, with Dvořák’s sunny and optimistic Symphony No. 8 as the centerpiece. Full of pastoral charm and radiant orchestral color, it’s the perfect musical escape to shake off the winter blues and explore the world through sound.

Tickets here!

Join members of the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra for an afternoon of beautiful chamber music in the Cynthia Sears Studio. This program will feature Johan Halvorsen's famous Passacaglia in G minor after G. F. Händel, Claude Debussy's charming Petit Suite for woodwind quintet, and Johannes Brahms' epic String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat Major.

This chamber-style performance offers audiences a closer look at the musicians of the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra and timeless works that continue to inspire performers and listeners alike.

Tickets here!