Whether you’re a longtime attendee of the Bellingham Symphony, or are considering tickets for the first time, the next two concerts from Mount Baker Theatre’s resident symphony will warm your heart with similar themes — celebrations of home, family, and the holidays.
Americana, on November 24, and Holiday Magic!, on December 15, both feature music that will be recognizable to many while also offering new compositions chosen by Maestro Yaniv Attar that tie everything together thematically.
November’s concert features guest soloist Jeff Midkiff’s Mandolin Concerto “From the Blue Ridge.” Commissioned by the Roanoke Symphony in 2011, Midkiff has performed it nearly 30 times across the nation, including last year with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Festival with Thomas Wilkins conducting.
“I wanted to compose music that reflected who I am as a person from Southwestern Virginia,” Midkiff says of the piece, adding it can be considered biographical. “The idea of home was central to the composition.”
Midkiff used melodies he grew up hearing and incorporated fragments of folk and bluegrass strains. Fans of bluegrass and Appalachian music will likely recognize these roots. For example, Midkiff says, he was inspired in the slow movement by the Carter Family’s Wildwood Flower and Bill Monroe’s Roanoke.
He also admires the way Antonin Dvorak uses folk songs in his compositions. In fact, the Roanoke Symphony premier paired his Concerto with the Dvorak Symphony No. 9 “From the New World.”
In addition to composing and performing, Midkiff is an orchestra director in the Roanoke City Schools.
Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring is also part of the November program.
Attar says this classical piece is a cornerstone in American music, and the audience will get the feel of the piece and the composer that defines what sounds “American” in music.
It also happens to be BSO executive director Gail Ridenour’s favorite on the program — perhaps because the melody “Simple Gifts” is performed by the oboe, which she plays in the orchestra.
America is full of diversity, of course, and this is where Latin America fits into the program. Attar chose to include Alberto Ginastera’s Four Dances from Estancia, because he believes Ginastera to be the most important Latin American composer in music history.
One more composition on the November playbill is from John Williams, inarguably the most important film composer today. The BSO will open the concert with Williams’ “The Cowboys” Overture.
In December, the symphony presents its ninth annual Holiday Magic! concert, with a performance of ’Twas The Night Before Christmas narrated by baritone Richard Hodges and accompanied by the orchestra. Hodges and soprano Ibidunni Ojikutu will also perform festive classics with the orchestra. The first half of the concert ends before intermission with a sing-along, allowing families with little ones not quite up for an entire show to finish up the festivities memorably.
Ojikutu, a Bellingham High School and Western Washington University alum, has originated roles in several operatic world premieres, including A Thousand Splendid Suns and Jubilee, both at Seattle Opera.
She looks forward to a mix of traditional and nontraditional music at the December concert for families to enjoy. She’s also excited to perform a song in Hebrew for the first time.
Another Holiday Magic highlight not to be missed is an original composition by well-known Bellingham composer Scott Henderson.
One of Ridenour’s favorite holiday movie scenes uses the same tune Henderson based his piece on, Good King Wenceslas.
“If you’ve ever watched the movie Love Actually, she says, “it’s the moment when Hugh Grant breaks out singing this song while the little girls dance around in a circle thinking he is a caroler.”
Henderson describes the work as a “six-minute festive romp with a 10th-century flair — and lots of harp.” It’s his fourth major work to be performed by the BSO since 2016.
Here’s the backstory: In 2002, while resident composer for the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, Henderson wrote a choral parody for the holidays titled “Good King What’s-His-Face.” Sadly, he says, that song never made it to performance, but its slightly medieval melody stuck in his brain.
“That melody came back to haunt and inspire me when Attar and Ridenour commissioned me to write a piece for the holiday concert in 2022,” he says. “I hadn’t realized how my subconscious had been working that snippet into just such a piece.”
He outlined his concept for a joyful, dance-like overture for full orchestra, to be titled The Feast of Stephen.
“I wanted it to sound like the background music for King Wenceslas’ holiday revel, with lots of brass, percussion, and the harp as a central character.”
Younger audiences will love experiencing these two concerts, which include many fun, recognizable melodies.
BSO’s Orchestra for All program means guests 18 and younger can attend for free with a ticketed adult. Just call the Mount Baker box office and let them know you’d like to add an Orchestra for All ticket to your order.
If toddlers and younger children are too little to sit comfortably through an entire orchestra concert, BSO’s Classical Kids is a fantastic way for them to be introduced to live classical music. This free program allows families to come to dress rehearsals, where they can enjoy story time with a Bellingham Public Library children’s librarian, snacks and activities in the lobby, and the freedom to move in and out of the concert hall to listen to the orchestra. Register to attend the Saturday, November 23 Classical Kids event here.
“Whether bringing someone to a concert to share in the fun of hearing live music or supporting the orchestra through a financial gift that allows us to share music with our community, you have a huge impact,” Ridenour says. “There’s nothing like being in a hall with more than a thousand people and experiencing music together. Or seeing a child’s face light up as they watch a performance in their school, oftentimes hearing instruments from the orchestra for the first time.”
The BSO’s mission is to engage, connect, and uplift the community by performing powerful, beautiful, and inspiring music. Come to the symphony this November and December and become a part of the magic!
For more details and links for purchasing tickets, please visit www.bellinghamsymphony.org.
