Concert honors founding members, celebrates student musicians

PENDLETON — The Oregon East Symphony will conclude its 2024–25 concert season at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, at the Vert Auditorium, 480 SW Dorion Ave.

The program features Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” and Jean Sibelius’s “Symphony No. 7” — two contrasting masterworks of European orchestral literature, according to a press release.

The concert will be presented in memory of Dr. George Nelson, a founding member of the Oregon East Symphony, and his colleague and friend, Dr. Albert Baxter, who both left a lasting legacy on music in Eastern Oregon.

According to OES Executive Director J.D. Kindle, Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” is a “musical puzzle of deep emotional range, with each movement dedicated to a friend in his close circle. At its core lies a hidden theme — what the composer called a “dark saying” — which remains a mystery to this day.”

Sibelius’s “Symphony No. 7,” by contrast, “is a singular work of serene power, unfolding in one continuous movement rather than the traditional four — a bold final statement in the Finnish composer’s symphonic output, Kindle said.

In addition to the concert, OES will recognize May Benson and Solomon Willis as the symphony’s 2025 music scholarship recipients. Each will receive $2,000.

Benson, of Pilot Rock, is a percussionist who has performed with the OES since her freshman year. In addition, she has served as the symphony’s youth board member for the past two years. Benson will major in percussion performance at Central Washington University.

Willis, a violinist and baritone, serves as concertmaster of the Pendleton High School orchestra. He has performed with the OES for several years. Willis plans to study physics with a minor in music at Oregon State University.

“These awards reflect the symphony’s ongoing commitment to nurturing young musical talent and investing in the cultural future of Eastern Oregon,” Kindle said in the press release.

Free tickets for unreserved, floor-level seats are available through a sponsorship from the Pendleton Foundation Trust and support from Lorie Baxter. They can be picked up at downtown Pendleton businesses and organizations listed on the OES website, www.oregoneastsymphony.org. Reserved balcony or floor-level seats can be purchased through the symphony office, 345 SW Fourth St., by calling 541-276-0302 and on the website.