Willow Creek Symphony performs May 11

Published 3:00 am Tuesday, May 7, 2024

The Inland Northwest Musicians’ Willow Creek Symphony will perform Nov. 16, 4 p.m., at Umatilla High School.

BOARDMAN — The Inland Northwest Musicians is presenting a concert by the Willow Creek Symphony under the direction of R. Lee Friese at the Riverfront Center at the Port of Morrow on Saturday, May 11 at 4 p.m.

This concert is sponsored by the Morrow County Cultural Coalition and funded by the Morrow County Unified Recreation District.

Admission is free with donations accepted at the door.

Featured at the concert will be a strings choir performing “Entrance of the Queen of Sheba” by G.F. Handel. Ian Baxter, of Hermiston, and Alice Massey, of Pendleton, have solo violin voices in this piece and throughout the literature being performed during the concert.

Additional selections will be: “Ashoken Farewell” (from the Soundtrack of the PBS Series “The Civil War,” a film by Ken Burns) written by Jay Ungar; “The Pink Panther” theme song written by Henry Mancini featuring saxophone soloist Anthony Marks; “Let the River Run” (theme from “Working Girl”) with words and music by Carly Simon; “March from Carmen” by George Bizet; Little Suite for Orchestra by Frank Erickson and “Amazing Grace” by John Ness Beck featuring orchestration by Anthony Marks from the Tri-Cities, who will also be performing in the symphony.

Looking aheadThe final concert for the Inland Northwest Musicians will be held on Saturday, June 22 at the Hermiston Community Center at 3 p.m. It will include all of the music ensembles, as well as Bill McKay, dean of fine arts and professor of music at Columbia Basin Community College, as a piano soloist.

Following the gala concert, a catered dinner is planned at the Hermiston Community Center provided by Castle Catering. Due to space, there is a limit of 300 tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis. The cost is $45 per person or $360 for a reserved table of eight.

The deadline for purchasing dinner tickets is May 22. For more information, go to the “Events” tab of the website at inlandnorthwestmusicians.com. General donations and sustaining memberships can also be purchased online through the website or Facebook.

Founded in 1999, Inland Northwest Musicians features volunteer musicians from throughout northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The performance ensembles include the Inland Northwest Orchestra, Inland Northwest Chorale and Willow Creek Symphony.

Admission to concerts is free, funded by corporate sponsors, grants, local concert sponsorships and individual donations. Corporate sponsors for this season include Amazon Web Services, The Blackbaud Giving Fund, Blue Mountain Community Foundation, city of Hermiston Transient Tax, Good Shepherd Community Health Foundation, Herbert A. Templeman Foundation, James F. And Marion L. Miller Foundation, Kiwanis Club of Hermiston, Morrow County Cultural Coalition, Oregon Arts Commission, The Oregon Community Foundation, Pacific Power Foundation, Umatilla Electric Cooperative and the Umatilla County Cultural Coalition.

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