By Dana Ames The Ukiah Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce its return to a four-concert season for 2024-2025. Soloists Jassen Todorov and Paul Yarbrough will be highlighted in the first concert, with performances given at Mendocino College on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 7:30 p.
m. and Sunday, Sept. 22 at 2 p.
m. Music Director and orchestra Conductor Phillip Lenberg will give a pre-concert informative talk in the Center Theatre starting one hour before each performance, at 6:30 p.m.
on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
The USO welcomes Jassen Todorov, award-winning violinist, for his first performance as soloist with them. Todorov began his musical training in his native Bulgaria and continued his studies at Harid Conservatory in Florida and Eastman School of Music in New York. He has performed in multiple concert venues worldwide and has been described as “an outstanding violinist.
..a player to watch” by the British music journal The Strad.
He is currently a Professor of Violin at San Francisco State University and serves as Visiting Professor at three universities in China. He is also an avid photographer and pilot. Paul Yarbrough, violist, was a founding member of the acclaimed Alexander String Quartet, and relocated to Mendocino County after his retirement from that ensemble.
He continues to teach, and keeps active with performing and promoting chamber music. He has appeared on stage frequently in Ukiah and is a favorite of Ukiah Symphony Orchestra musicians and patrons alike. Both soloists will take the stage for Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, and Todorov will be featured in Beethoven’s Romance No.
1. Rounding out the program will be the beloved Fifth Symphony by Franz Schubert, which Lenberg says he has been wanting to present for some time. He calls it a work “with one charming melody after another,” and explains it has the same orchestration as the Beethoven piece, making them easy to perform together.
Each of the three works, produced in Vienna within the space of 40 years, calls for the intimacy of a chamber orchestra, Lenberg notes, which gives the framework upon which to present them as a unified group. These three, in particular, exemplify the measured beauty and expressiveness of the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic. Advance tickets for all USO performances may be obtained from www.
ukiahsymphony.org ..
