Orchestra to Play Rimsky-Korsakov Overture

The Westmont Orchestra performs Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Russian Easter Overture” as part of its Spring Orchestra Concert Friday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. in Page Multipurpose Room at Westmont and Sunday, Feb. 23, at 3 p.m. in First Presbyterian Church, 21 E. Constance Ave. Tickets to the concerts, which may be purchased at the door, are $10 general admission; students are free.

The 58-member orchestra, under the direction of Michael Shasberger, will perform Alphons Diepenbrock’s Hymne, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings” and Gabriel Faure’s “Masques and Bergamasques.”

“We are excited to bring our new faculty teaching artist, Dr. Han Soo Kim, into the spotlight with the Diepenbrock “Hymne for Violin and Orchestra,” Shasberger says.

The “Russian Easter Overture” premiered at a Russian symphony concert in St. Petersburg in late December 1888. Rimsky-Korsakov, whose 170th birth anniversary is March 18, dedicated the piece to composers Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Borodin.

The orchestra will be fresh off its spring tour through Southern California that included a workshop at Disneyland and an orchestral clinic at Beckman High School in Irvine.

For more information, please call the Westmont Music Department at (805) 565-6040.

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