Olympia Symphony Orchestra: A Cast of Characters

Huw Edwards, Music Director & Conductor

Bizet: March of the Toreadors from Carmen

Ravel: Mother Goose, complete ballet

Prokofiev: Symphonic Suite, Lieutenant Kije

Offenbach: Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld

“A cast of characters” will appear in the OSO’s season finale — from Spanish toreadors in a famous excerpt from Bizet’s Carmen, to invented soldiers and comedic cover-ups in the music to the epic film Lieutenant Kije by the Russian Serge Prokofiev. The ravishing and opulent music in Ravel’s ballet score Mother Goose includes children’s favorites such as “Tom Thumb,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Sleeping Beauty.” Jacques Offenbach was born 200 years ago in 1819 and his immortal Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld contains memorable solos for cello, clarinet, and violin…before our season closes with the boisterous and high-stepping “Can-Can”!

This program is supported, in part, by a grant from the Washington State Arts Commission (now also known as “ArtsWA”) and the National Endowment for the Arts.